Director-General of Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Prof Mohammed Salifu has called on members of the Colleges of Education Non-Teaching Staff Association of Ghana (CENTSAG) to suspend their strike action and return to the negotiation table.

Speaking in an interview on JoyNews' The Pulse on Tuesday, Prof Salifu told the striking group that they cannot be on strike and have their issues resolved at the same time.

CENTSAG's National President, Frederick Yeboah, has, however, stated unequivocally that the Association's ongoing strike will not be called off anytime soon until the government is ready for positive negotiations.

Prof. Mohammed Salifu, in reaction, expressed surprise at the Association's stance in the strike action.

He explained that before negotiations can begin, the Association must suspend its strike action. This, he said is in accordance with labour regulations.

"I am surprised they will say that they will not return until their concerns are resolved because they should know that you cannot be on strike and have your concerns resolved. It is simple procedure governing government relations," he said.

According to him, efforts are being made to have the concerns of CENTSAG resolved, adding that GTEC "have been very sympathetic about the issues that they have raised."

"In their press statement they listed some five items. Out of those five items it is only one that came out that is relatively new. All those other four we have made significant progress about them.

"CENTSAG for example, know about the wrong placement of first degree holders, that when they raised this point GTEC was the first person to support them. We made a recommendation to Fair Wages and Salaries Commission and Fair Wages indicated to them at the negotiating table, that they were going to look into that and they needed up to the middle of March to validate what we have given them so that they can clear it," he noted.

According to him, CENTSAG had the knowledge that Fair Wages is looking into their case. So if they felt the process has delayed, they could have come back and say "look we made this commitment and still haven't heard anything where is it? And then you get an update."

CENTSAG is currently on strike in all forty-six colleges of Education over poor conditions of service and refusal to pay some allowances owed them.

The National Secretary of CENTSAG, Samuel Opoku, in an interview said only security personnel would be allowed to take their post during the strike action.

“We are embarking on an indefinite strike effective Monday, April 11, 2022. Our members, comprising; administrative staff, kitchen staff, and estate staff will all be on strike. We do a lot in support of the teaching service. At the moment, it is only the security that will be exempted from the strike because we have to protect lives and property even while we are on strike,” he told Accra-based Citinews.