The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) has called on government to revisit a constitutional review process that began over a decade ago, arguing a review is imperative in order to strengthen good governance, promote inclusivity and sustainable development.
According to UTAG, the halting of Ghana’s constitution review process – which started about a decade ago – is a great disservice in the quest for good governance and general improvement in Ghanaians’ physical quality of life.
National President-UTAG, Prof. Mamudu A. Akudugu said: “UTAG finds non-implementation of the reviewed 1992 constitution very troubling. We take exception to the very partisan challenge of policy discontinuity that plagues our efforts at development and violates the directive principles of state policy which enjoin regimes to continue with programmes initiated by previous regimes as much as possible”.
He reiterated that spending state resources to set up a Constitution Review Commission of Inquiry (CRCI) in January 2010 to undertake such a crucial exercise of nationwide public consultations – culminating in a report submitted to government in December 2011 and issuance of the white paper in June 2012 – and Ghanaians are yet to see real efforts from successive governments to implement recommendations of the Commission…which is very disturbing.
UTAG made this call at its 21st Biennial National Congress at the University for Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, in the Northern Region.
The congress was held under the theme ‘Labour unionism and socio-economic transformation in Ghana: Can UTAG be the pacesetter? – and brought together delegates from all 15 traditional public universities to discuss the role of UTAG as a central pillar and intellectual hub in providing policy alternatives and shaping public policy discourse through research and advocacy.
UTAG shared its concerns about the country’s general economic outlook, which it said imposes unprecedented hardships on citizens – particularly the ordinary worker, and the implications of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme agreed with government on the running of public universities.
“Undoubtedly, the Free Senior High School (FSHS) policy has led to increased enrolments across our campuses without a corresponding increase in recruitment of lecturers and infrastructure,” UTAG stated.
UTAG worried about GTEC operations
While UTAG said it has no objection to establishing the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), it lamented that GTEC’s current actions – including some unilateral decisions and their inconsistent implementation – disregard the academic freedom of public universities as entrenched in the 1992 constitution.
“The imposition of a single organogram on all public universities in contravention of the various Acts that set them up, and the unilateral decision to freeze the accreditation of new academic programmes in public universities, are clear violations of public universities’ academic freedoms, among other things,” it said.
The Association therefore called on GTEC to try using participatory and consultative approaches in its decision-making processes.
UTAG recommended a multi-stakeholder engagement that will lead to amendment of the Education Regulatory Bodies’ Act 2020 (Act 1023), which established the GTEC and other bodies to make it more responsive to the needs of contemporary higher education.
“GTEC should undertake a holistic review of the accreditation regime for academic and professional programmes of public universities to meet current needs in the world of work,” added UTAG.
