The University of Ghana chapter of the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana has issued an ultimatum to the leadership of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission to vacate their positions, citing poor management and interference in university operations.
The association is demanding that Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai, the Director-General, and Prof. Augustine Ocloo, the Deputy Director-General, leave office by January 31, 2026, warning of a petition to the Chief of Staff and potential strike action if they refuse.
UTAG-UG has criticized the GTEC officials for neglecting their primary responsibilities while focusing on what it termed “tangential and sometimes frivolous actions, such as chasing people with ‘fake degrees’, while neglecting the fundamental issues affecting tertiary education in Ghana.”
In a statement signed by Dr Jerry Joe Harrison, President of UTAG-UG, and Dr Godfred B. Hagan, Secretary, the association outlined numerous grievances against the regulatory body created under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023).
The lecturers stated that “the quality of education being provided by public tertiary educational institutions in Ghana is at an all-time low due to insufficient budgetary support – largely restricted to payment of salaries, inadequate infrastructure, poor remuneration for lecturers, etc., and yet GTEC appears indifferent to these systemic problems.”
The association has accused GTEC of exceeding its statutory authority by meddling in university council affairs and eroding the powers of vice-chancellors.
UTAG-UG has challenged GTEC to identify the legal provision in Act 1023 that authorized its removal of Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast.
One major complaint concerns a GTEC directive issued on October 1, 2025, mandating that academic staff retire immediately upon reaching age 60, rather than at the conclusion of the academic year as traditionally practiced.
The statement questioned: “If a lecturer’s birthday falls in the middle of the semester and retires forthwith on attaining 60 years, forfeiting any offer of post-retirement contract, how do the students who have registered for the courses being taught by that person, as well as project students being supervised by that person finish the rest of the semester and the academic year?”
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The association also condemned GTEC’s confrontational style of dealing with university administrators, pointing to an instance where Prof. Jinapor contacted the University of Ghana requesting the cancellation of a reported 25% tuition increase that turned out to be inaccurate.
“This turned out to be a hoax as no such increment had been occasioned. He could have ascertained the veracity or otherwise of such a report through a phone call to the management of the University of Ghana before misleading the public,” UTAG-UG stated.
The group also decried the government’s three-year suspension of hiring approvals for universities, even for positions vacated through resignation, retirement, or death, noting this has intensified faculty workload and compromised educational standards.
According to UTAG-UG, the GTEC leadership’s conduct demonstrates “a pattern of incompetent administration” that threatens academic freedom guaranteed under the 1992 constitution and university independence.
The association has also urged the swift passage of a Legislative Instrument to regulate the enforcement of Act 1023 to curb potential power misuse by GTEC officials.
“We urge all other UTAG campuses and sister institutions to join this fight against tyranny, oppression, and administrative abuse, to restore sanity and hope to our public education institutions,” the statement concluded.