UTAG strike: Dr. Otchere-Ankrah fires Gyampo over NLC comments

Governance Lecturer at Central University, Dr. Benjamin Otchere-Ankrah has slammed the Secretary of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), Professor Ransford Gyampo over his recent statements regarding the National Labour Commission.

The National Labour Commission (NLC) has secured an interlocutory injunction from Labour Court 1 to compel UTAG to call off their strike action.

The UTAG President, Prof. Charles Marfo has indicated that the Association won't comply with court order emphasizing they have instructed their lawyers to handle the issue.

Prof. Gyampo also believes the NLC is in the wrong and has proposed for the Commission to be scrapped saying, "I believe the NLC must be scrapped because they're not independent enough to do the work they're supposed to do".

"It's surprising how the Labour Commission acts. They're supposed to be independent arbiters between government and labour, but that's not what the current NLC is doing," he argued.

Speaking on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', Dr. Otchere-Ankrah found Prof. Gyampo's statements very distasteful.

" . . if you say you won't engage the person you're negotiating with, who else do you expect to work with? They have been given the authority for you to have negotiations with. Maybe you dislike their behaviour but if you say you won't involve them again, then who else will you negotiate with?'' he questioned.

Dr. Otchere-Ankrah also dissented to UTAG's disobedience to the court injunction saying, "it's also very dangerous. For court to give an order, then we're entering a chaos environment''.