Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Gyampo, after a highly competitive election later Thursday, August 5, 2021, has been elected as the new secretary for the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).
Announcing his victory in a social media post, he thanked all his students, colleague lecturers on campus, and all supporters who had a lot of confidence in him and voted him into power.
“I thank you all, especially my students, present and past, for the support. You weren’t part of those expected to vote, yet you had a lot of confidence in me, You thronged my office to pick my flyers just to go campaign for me,” he noted.
The popular University of Ghana, Legon Professor continued that “working with my colleagues, we won’t fight with any government. But no regime will take university teachers for granted from now on.”
According to Professor Gyampo, UTAG, under his tenure, will negotiate peacefully and respectfully with any government, adding that “but we will bite hard when we have to.”
“UTAG will play its role as countervailing authority to establishments and we won’t be heard only commenting on our conditions of service. We will speak up to praise the government when necessary and to, without malice and cynicism
“For close to 20 years, I have fought as one man civil society in shaping public policy. Now with the support of my people and colleagues, we can assure regimes that UTAG is going to be a more force to be reckoned with.
“We will strive for industrial harmony but won’t tolerate disrespect from any quarter. We won’t tolerate negotiations for better conditions that drags from 2012 to date, with meetings still being called in perpetuity,” he stated.