National President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana says there was an intention by the Mahama-led NDC administration to cancel the Book and Research Allowance for university lecturers.

According to Prof. Charles Ofosu Marfo, the decision was rescinded only after the lecturers had threatened to strike.

In the lead up to the December 7 polls, Vice-President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has stated the ruling NPP restored the Book and Research Allowance.

But former Education Minister under the NDC administration, Professor Jane Naana Opoku Agyemang, insists the claim by the NPP is false.

Former District Chief Executive for the Sekyere Afram Plains, Fuseini Donkor says the NDC only sought to replace the Research allowance with a National Research Fund.

“Results from research by lecturers which were paid for, were not forthcoming. The research allowance became mandatory. It was as if it was part of their salaries. Whether the lecturer does a research or not, he is still paid.”

“There was burden on others who were doing genuine research. The funding for such research was not enough. A research conducted in chemistry or physics is quite different research conducted in the social sciences. The cost of science related researches is more. Unfortunately, monies allocated to all, are the same.”

“The NDC government was proposing a national research fund. This national fund will be used to fund researches that need higher budgetary allocations,” he said.

A member of the NPP’s Communication team, Yaw Opoku Mensah, believes the implementation was intentionally put on hold by the NDC for political expediency.

“The cancellation was supposed to take effect in 2017. They only put a hold on it right after the election that is if they had won. Lecturers were to be denied their research allowance in 2016/2017 academic year,” he observed.

National President of the University Teachers Association of Ghana, Professor Charles Ofosu Marfo, also explained the NDC government rescinded the decision to scrap the research allowance due to protests by the lecturers.

“There was a clear intent to cancel the Book and Research Allowance. A lot of discussions were held because of that. We indicated that if they go ahead with it, the association would go on a strike. Yes, there was that intent, but it was never cancelled,” he said.