The National Executive Council (NEC) of the University Teachers Associaton of Ghana (UTAG) has distanced itself from a press conference held by its University of Ghana-Branch on the Public Universities Bill.

The Committee says UTAG-UG held the conference against their approval.

“In fact, at a NEC meeting held at the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS), Ho on September 10, NEC voted against the holding of any such Press Conference by any branch in the name of UTAG,” a statement from NEC said.

This comes after the UTAG-UG held a press conference early Wednesday to declare it’s stance on the Public University’s Bill.

At the conference addressed by Prof. Akosua Adomako on behalf of the UG branch of UTAG, the bill was described as unnecessary and a breach of the 1992 constitution.

The Professor, therefore, on behalf the UG body of UTAG called on President Akufo-Addo to ensure that the bill is abolished.

However, in a later statement, the National Execitive Council of UTAG said it knew nothing about the concerns raised at the UG press conference.

According to the statement, the position of the NEC of UTAG has been well articulated and submitted to Parliament for consideration.

“Representatives of the NEC of UTAG has since then made our case before the Parliamentary Select Committee on
Education.

“Following this, representatives of NEC of UTAG have met major
stakeholders in the country; The President of the Republic, Council of State, His Excellency the Vice President of the Republic, the Majority Leader of
Parliament, the Minister of Education, among others to espouse the UTAG
Position on the PUB and help them to appreciate our stance.

Meanwhile, the leadership of UTAG-UG has defended its action. Speaking on JoyNews’ Midday News, President of UTAG-UG Dr Samuel Nkumba, said the press conference was to express a general concern of UTAG.

“It is not only the University of Ghana that holds this view. The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and Civil Society Organizations including CDD and IDEG, all of these bodies are singing the same song that the University of Ghana is singing and I don’t think that song is different from the view of nationals,” he said.