Former UTAG Prez warns against taking university staff off SSSS

A former University Teachers Association Ghana (UTAG) President has warned against a recent proposal by government to take staff of public universities and other government subvented agencies off the Single Spine Salary Scheme as part of measures to deal with mounting government wage bill.

Government reached a deal last week with stakeholders at a national labour forum to among others, discontinue with the payment of salaries of some subvented state institutions such as public universities and power companies.

The forum recommended that agencies that are financially viable be weaned off government financial support.

While some analysts say this move might not be good for some public institutions that use their internally generated funds for infrastructure projects, others think otherwise.

Dr. Asiedu-Addo, a former UTAG president, is warning that cutting government subvention to universities could potentially plunge the country’s tertiary education into chaos.

He said the situation will put a lot of pressure on parents as the universities alone cannot handle the huge salaries of all the university staff.

“The university will generate funds alright but they are going to put the burden on the parents again…so we are back to the old days where university education will be for the rich only”, he stated.

But Labour expert, Austin Gamey, disagreed. He said there were many private universities which have been able to run only on their internally generated funds.

He, however, suggested that the University for Health and Allied Sciences in Ho, the University of Energy and Natural Resources in Sunyani and the University of Development Studies (UDS) in the Northern, Upper East and West Regions must be subvented until they can they support themselves.