|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Colleges of Education Teachers Association of Ghana (CETAG) has vowed to continue its indefinite strike until the Council resolves their grievances, despite appeals from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to suspend the action and return to dialogue.
CETAG declared the strike on Thursday, January 2, 2025, citing unresolved issues after previous notices of industrial action on September 26 and December 23, 2024. This decision followed an Emergency National Council meeting held on Monday, December 30, 2024.
In response, GTEC held a closed-door meeting with CETAG and urged them to end the strike to allow further negotiations. In a press statement, GTEC’s Director-General, Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, criticized the timing of the strike, describing it as counterproductive. He reiterated GTEC’s commitment to addressing CETAG’s concerns and called for cooperation.
“We appeal to CETAG to call off the action and engage in continued discussions as we work towards resolving their concerns,” Prof. Abdulai stated.
However, Maxwell Bunu, President of CETAG, dismissed the suggestion of calling off the strike outright. Speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, Bunu explained that while the strike could be moderated, it would not be suspended without tangible evidence of government action.
“What we saw today, probably if they were to show those documents to us, the commitments they had made earlier, we wouldn’t have been where we are. It has always been documentation and promises; we have not seen any full action,” he said.
Bunu emphasized that the government’s financial commitments thus far were insufficient to address their grievances. He added that any decision to adjust the strike would depend on a review by CETAG’s Council after assessing the discussions with GTEC.
*“All the documents they have shown to us, we need to brief the council about what transpired today, and the council will take a decision from there. Based on what I have seen today, I made it known to Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai that it’s not sufficient to enable us to call off or suspend the strike.
“We’re not calling off this strike; the best we can do is to moderate the elements of the strike. For us to just call it off, I don’t think that is feasible,”* Bunu clarified.
He further accused the government of insensitivity toward the concerns of CETAG members, citing their long-standing frustration with unfulfilled promises.
Email Daily Mail GH: stories@dailymailgh.com or
Whatsapp: +233(0)509928122
