The University of Ghana branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG-UG) has accused the leadership of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) of incompetence and administrative overreach, calling for the immediate resignation of its Director-General and Deputy Director-General.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Monday, January 19, 2026, UTAG-UG demanded that Professors Augustine Ocloo and Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai step down from their positions by January 31, 2026, warning that failure to do so would compel the association to escalate the matter to the Chief of Staff and consider industrial action.
Claims of Mandate Drift and Misplaced Priorities
UTAG-UG accused the GTEC leadership of straying from its core mandate and focusing on what it described as “tangential and sometimes frivolous actions,” including what it termed the pursuit of individuals with “fake degrees,” while neglecting more pressing challenges facing Ghana’s tertiary education sector.
“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—alongside inadequate infrastructure and poor remuneration for lecturers,” the statement said.
“Yet GTEC appears indifferent to these systemic problems.”
Concerns Over Retirement Policy and Academic Disruption
The association also raised concerns about the implementation of retirement policies, questioning their impact on academic continuity.
“If a lecturer’s birthday falls in the middle of the semester and the lecturer retires immediately upon attaining 60 years—without a post-retirement contract—how do the students registered for those courses, as well as project students under supervision, complete the semester and academic year?” UTAG-UG queried.
Allegation of Misleading Public Statements
UTAG-UG further criticised what it described as misleading public comments by GTEC’s Director-General regarding salary increments for University of Ghana staff.
“This turned out to be a hoax as no such increment had been occasioned,” the association stated.
“He could have ascertained the veracity of the report through a simple phone call to the University of Ghana management before misleading the public.”
Call for Solidarity Across Campuses
In its concluding remarks, UTAG-UG called on other UTAG branches and allied institutions to join what it described as a collective effort to confront “tyranny, oppression, and administrative abuse.”
“We urge all other UTAG campuses and sister institutions to join this fight to restore sanity and hope to our public education institutions,” the statement concluded.
