People died for Ghana and so if I’ll spend 3 months in jail for contempt, so be it – Gyampo on UTAG strike
“I am Ransford Gyampo . When NDC was there we took them on. NPP is in power and we have legitimate demands and the fact that it is a certain party in power does not mean that all of a sudden our needs have been met.
A Professor at the University of Ghana Ransford Gyampo has said he will continue to fight for better conditions for university lecturers in the country irrespective of the consequences.
According to him, the condition of lecturers in Ghana is not the best hence, the call on government to act in dealing with the situation.
Speaking on the New Day show on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes on Wednesday February 23, he said when his attention was drawn to the fact that continuing to strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) will amount to contempt following the court order stopping the strike that “Leadership is about sacrifice, people died and people lost their lives, blood was spilled so if people died and you will go to jail for three months, so be it.”
He further indicated that the labour agitation is not intended to make the government unpopular. Rather, he said it is to ensure that government meets their legitimate demand.
“Any time you make a demand or a claim then they want to look at it with some partisan lenses. Alll of a sudden they say you are NDC, sometimes they say you are NPP , it doesn’t make sense to me.
“I am Ransford Gyampo . When NDC was there we took them on. NPP is in power and we have legitimate demands and the fact that it is a certain party in power does not mean that all of a sudden our needs have been met.
“so those saying ‘you are making the government unpopular ‘ it is not our desire to make anybody feel discomfort, our desire is that 114per cent of the basic salary of a lecturer is around 1400.”
Meanwhile, at an emergency meeting at the campus of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA), UTAG’s National Executive Committee (NEC) decided to suspend the strike for two weeks for negotiations to resume.
This was after the Labour Division of the Accra High Court granted an interlocutory injunction application filed against the strike by UTAG by the National Labour Commission (NLC).
Source: Theherald.com
