UTAG-UG demands resignation of GTEC Director-General and deputy over alleged incompetence

The University Teachers’ Association of Ghana, University of Ghana Branch (UTAG-UG), has called for the immediate resignation of the Director-General and Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), accusing them of incompetence, administrative overreach and abuse of authority.

In a press statement issued on Monday, January 19, 2026, UTAG-UG demanded that Prof. Ahmed Jinapor Abdulai and Prof. Augustine Ocloo step down by January 31, 2026, warning that failure to do so would trigger a petition to the Chief of Staff and possible industrial action.

The statement, signed by UTAG-UG President Dr Jerry Joe Harrison and Secretary Dr Godfred B. Hagan, accused the GTEC leadership of neglecting the commission’s core mandate under the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023), in favour of what it described as “tangential and sometimes frivolous actions.”

According to the association, GTEC has focused on pursuits such as “chasing people with fake degrees” while ignoring deeper systemic challenges confronting tertiary education, including inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, and weak remuneration for lecturers.

“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, inadequate infrastructure and poor remuneration for lecturers, yet GTEC appears indifferent to these systemic problems,” the statement said.

UTAG-UG further accused the commission of interfering in the work of university governing councils and undermining the authority of vice-chancellors. The association questioned GTEC’s legal basis for the removal of the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. Johnson Nyarko Boampong, challenging the commission to indicate which provision of Act 1023 empowered such action.

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Among the grievances cited was a GTEC directive issued on October 1, 2025, which required lecturers to retire immediately upon attaining the age of 60, rather than at the end of the academic year as had been the established practice. UTAG-UG warned that such a policy disrupts teaching and supervision, to the detriment of students.

The association also criticised what it described as an adversarial approach by the GTEC leadership, referencing an incident in which Prof. Jinapor wrote to the University of Ghana demanding a reversal of an alleged 25 per cent fee increment based on a false media report.

UTAG-UG said the claim later proved to be untrue and could have been verified through simple engagement with university management, rather than misleading the public.

Additionally, the lecturers decried the government’s three-year freeze on recruitment clearance for universities, including replacement of staff who have retired, resigned or died, saying this has increased workloads and negatively affected teaching quality.

UTAG-UG warned that the conduct of the GTEC leadership reflects a pattern of incompetent administration that threatens academic freedom guaranteed under the 1992 Constitution and undermines institutional autonomy.

The association also called for the immediate enactment of a Legislative Instrument to guide the implementation of Act 1023 to prevent future abuse of power.

“We urge all other UTAG campuses and sister institutions to join this fight against tyranny, oppression and administrative abuse, to restore sanity and hope to our public education institutions,” the statement concluded.