The Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) has urged the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to suspend the “obnoxious” directive regarding the payment of allowances to office holders in public universities. 

The Association said the directive must be promptly suspended until GTEC had constructively engaged all stakeholders as communicated from the latest GAUA National Executive Council meeting in their communique on August 18, 2023. 

A statement jointly signed and issued by Dr Mrs. Beth Offei-Awuku, President and Mr Richard Afriyie, General Secretary, said GTEC should suspend the directive because the approach excluded unions, which were direct beneficiaries of the impact of the actions.  

“...That is in bad faith and the labour union is willing and able to resist the directive with all its strength, reminding GTEC that GAUA has the cream of legal practitioners in public universities as its members too. The so-called allowances review by GTEC essentially constitutes a variation of service, which cannot be done without engaging the unions of the affected employees or they themselves,” it said. 

The statement said the allowances had been approved by the University Councils, which were the governing bodies and that the action of GTEC was not backed by any ministerial regulation, neither was it supported by any documented resolution of its own Council. 

It said the exercise of discretion by the GTEC acting through its Director General (DG) had so far been arbitrary and capricious with a posture that was anti-GAUA, making the Association “feel hounded” since his assumption of office. 

The statement said GTEC’s approach had been engineered to surprise affected members with either removals, reductions or even increments in allowances that had not been duly communicated in writing to the affected members, who had been properly appointed to positions of management by their Councils. 

It said despite GAUA hosting the finest medical practitioners as members too, they were wary of the social, emotional, mental, and physical health impact of such surprise changes in remuneration on members and the financial stress of adverse variations to their families. 

“It is in bad faith, it is an unfair labour practice, and must be fully resisted,” the statement added. 

It said the GTEC approach, if allowed to stand, would be a bad statement of distrust of structures at the strategic level of administration in the tertiary education landscape amounting to weakening of the powers of the Vice Chancellors’ Ghana (VCG). 

“It will also amount to undermining the powers of the Governing Councils of our universities as re-engineering of administrative structures for senior members and appointments to positions of management at the various levels are, statutorily, the preserve of the Governing Councils of our universities. Again, that would be in bad faith and should be avoided at all costs,” the statement said.