No Peace For Politicians Until Article 71 Office Holders End—Prof. Gyampo

General Secretary of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) Prof. Ransford Gyampo, has vowed that the country’s political class will know no rest until the Orwellian setup that allows them to enjoy while at the expense of others is scrapped.

In a Facebook post, the University of Ghana Political Science lecturer said wage inequalities between Article 71 officeholders and other public servants have been allowed to go on for too long and that the time has come for it to be addressed.

 “Let me once again counsel the government to begin to rethink the discrimination imposed by article 71 of the 1992 constitution that grants juicy conditions of service to a few people with relatively low educational background and ignores all other public servants who are given pittance every month and whose deaths are hastened every year for the poor pension they receive on retirement,” Gyampo wrote.

“for politicians and all other Article 71 officeholders would from now onwards know no peace so long as they continue to tell us to tighten our belts while they eat good food to protrude their tummies and loosen their belts. If there is no money. We must all suffer. If there is no money it must be equitably distributed. This is on way to consolidate peace and stability for development.”

Prof. Gyampo’s comment comes barely days after UTAG had forced the government to the negotiation table with a strike that even defied a court order.

In demand of better conditions of service, university teachers nationwide had embarked on a strike. But the National Labor Council had gone to court and secured an order against the strike.

UTAG had snubbed the order and dared the government to arrest all the lecturers and throw them into prison.

Eventually, the government buckled and returned to the negotiation table.