Professor Abdulai Jinapor, Director‑General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), told Citi FM’s Eyewitness News that the government has already set aside about GH¢400 million to pay book and research allowances to university lecturers. He said GH¢238 million has been released to 56 institutions in the first batch, with roughly GH¢198 million earmarked for the second batch, which includes the University of Ghana.
Despite the funds being “sitting down”, the University of Ghana branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UG‑UTAG) has threatened to strike on Tuesday, October 20, over the delayed payment of the annual allowances. UG‑UTAG accuses the government of failing to honour a memorandum of understanding that would have seen the allowances paid in August, although some universities have reportedly received their payments.
Professor Jinapor disputed the claim that the government had delayed the disbursement. He said the payment process begins months before disbursement and requires universities to submit the relevant information on their lecturers. GTEC sent letters to institutions on Monday, October 12, asking them to process and submit the necessary data.
He alleged that the University of Ghana has not completed the required process, arguing that the outstanding payments could not be attributed to the government. “For some reason, the University of Ghana hasn’t processed their inputs,” he said. “So if UTAG wants to go on strike, then you should start accusing the University of Ghana in terms of those who are supposed to input the data and not the government.”
Jinapor noted that about 78 institutions have already received their allowances, citing Sunyani Technical University as an example of a second‑batch school that processed its data and received payment. He urged UG‑UTAG to focus on ensuring that the university submits the required information rather than threatening industrial action, warning that frequent strike threats could undermine public confidence in the association.
What follows is a call for the University of Ghana to comply with the data submission requirements so that the allocated funds can be disbursed without further delay. The outcome of the potential strike will be watched closely by the academic community and the government alike.
