The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has urged the government to pay the book and research allowance for the 2013/2014 academic year otherwise it will advise itself.
In a statement signed by its General Secretary, Mr Adamu Ibrahim, POTAG said the government’s delay in paying the allowances despite a memorandum of understanding (MoU) reached between it and the association in August, this year, was creating tension on the various campuses.
POTAG’s position, the statement said, followed an emergency congress held in Wa to discuss matters affecting the welfare of polytechnic teachers.
“POTAG, by this press statement, is appealing to government to pay the said allowance by the middle of November 2014,” the statement said.
The book and research allowance was the subject of contention between the government and polytechnic teachers in the second half of the year, and led to a strike by the teachers until negotiations brought them back to the classroom.
POTAG said it was “associating itself with the organised labour unions on strike to demand the release of members’ contributions to their trustees” as being demanded by the 12 labour unions.
Section 3 of the National Pension Act (Act 766) requires that the employer shall within 14 days from the end of each month transfer remittances to the mandatory schemes on behalf of each worker, and that an employer who fails to remit total contributions within the time stipulated in Section 3 of the Act commits an offence.
According to POTAG, as of last Wednesday, its trustees, fund managers and custodians had not been given their certificates. It, therefore, urged the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to, as a matter of urgency, issue the certificates to the chosen pension managers of the association.
“POTAG wishes to state that we are monitoring events and would advise ourselves as and when necessary,” the statement said.
