The Ghana Association of University Administrators (GAUA) has called on the government and relevant stakeholders to uphold the sanctity of academic freedom by enforcing the compliance with legal documents of the nation’s public universities.

In a press release signed and issued by Dr. Beth Offei-Awuku, National President for GAUA, she averred that some recent directives of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) seeking to adversely vary established conditions of service for Non-Teaching Senior Members makes it clear that university administration is under seige.

According to GAUA, these gravely worrying behaviors of the regulator in dishonoring statutory provisions of legally binding documents is most distasteful and an affront to the academic freedom of these autonomous public institutions.

GAUA also pointed out that there is the overregulation and virtual micro-management of the public universities by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), whilst GTEC is in blatant disregard for legal documents like the universities’ Acts of Parliament, the Statutes, and Policies governing the Ghanaian universities.

In that release, it pointed out that some government appointees to the university councils, and politicians in the jurisdiction of some public universities have been noted to exert excessive political influence on the administrative structures of the public universities without recourse to the Acts, Statutes, and Policies governing the establishment of the nation’s public universities.

This trend, it noted, is very wrong and needs emergent redress if the rule of law is anything to continue to live for.

“GAUA again calls on the GTEC to halt the implementation of its directives of Office Holding Allowances in the public universities forthwith, as the process is awash with discrimination, arbitrariness, and unfair labour practices...

"The implementation of this obnoxious GTEC directive on Officeholders have resulted in a number of GAUA Members losing their allowances while the complaints at the National Labour Commission (NLC) is still pending. The GTEC directive on Officeholders should stop immediately until a proper implementation framework is agreed on by all stakeholders,” the statement said.

GAUA, therefore, issued a notice that if the GTEC directive is not stopped by January 1, 2024, GAUA and its members will be compelled to lay down their tools.