UTAG-UG demands GTEC’s top two resign, warns of petition and strike action

Lecturers at the University of Ghana have called for the resignation of the Director-General and Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), accusing the pair of incompetence and what they describe as repeated regulatory overreach.

In a statement issued on Monday, 19 January 2026, the University Teachers’ Association of Ghana, University of Ghana Branch (UTAG-UG), said Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai and Prof. Augustine Ocloo must step down by 31 January or the group will petition the Chief of Staff and consider industrial action.

The statement, signed by UTAG-UG President Dr Jerry Joe Harrison and Secretary Dr Godfred B. Hagan, argues that GTEC has drifted from its core mandate under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023).

UTAG-UG accused the commission’s leadership of focusing on what it called side issues, including pursuing people with “fake degrees”, while failing to address structural pressures facing public tertiary institutions, such as limited budget support, inadequate infrastructure and poor lecturer remuneration.

The association also claimed GTEC has been intruding into university governance, alleging interference with governing councils and actions that undermine vice-chancellors’ authority.

One of the group’s central complaints relates to the removal of the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong. UTAG-UG questioned the legal basis for the intervention and challenged GTEC to cite the specific provision in Act 1023 that empowers such action.

The lecturers further criticised a GTEC directive dated 1 October 2025, which, they said, required lecturers to retire immediately upon turning 60, rather than completing the academic year as has been standard practice. UTAG-UG argued that an abrupt mid-semester exit could disrupt teaching, supervision and course delivery, with knock-on effects for students.

The statement also pointed to what it described as an adversarial engagement style, citing a letter from Prof. Jinapor to the University of Ghana demanding the reversal of an alleged 25% fee increase based on a media report that UTAG-UG says later proved false. The group said the matter could have been resolved through basic verification with university management before public escalation.

UTAG-UG also raised concerns about a three-year freeze on recruitment clearance for universities, including restrictions on replacing staff who retire, resign or die. The association said this has increased workloads and, in its view, lowered educational quality.

The group warned that it sees a pattern of “incompetent administration” that threatens academic freedom and institutional autonomy, and called for the immediate passage of a Legislative Instrument to guide the implementation of Act 1023 and reduce the risk of future abuse.

UTAG-UG urged other campuses and sister institutions to support what it called a push to restore sanity in public tertiary education governance.