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The University Teachers Association of Ghana, UTAG, is demanding the immediate payment of their book and research allowances for the 2015/2016 academic year UTAG’s demands comes barely few days after the Polytechnic Teachers Association (POTAG), made similar calls for the release of funds.

According to UTAG, the allowances are supposed to be paid at the beginning of the academic year, but they are yet to receive the money due them ten months on. President John Dramani Mahama announced over the weekend that government had released some 37 million Ghana cedis to the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, to pay for the Book and Research allowances for the 2015-2016 academic year.

However, the President of UTAG, Dr. Harry Agbanu, says they are still waiting for confirmation from the Ministry of Education of receipt of the allowances. “We would have wished that the money is paid today but clearly that may not be possible. I am on my way to the Controller and Accountant General’s department to find out what difficulties they are facing I know they are supposed to present the report to the Bank of Ghana for money to be released to the Ministry of Education and the ministry to issue a cheque for the National Council for Tertiary Education and then the National Council issues cheques to the various institutions.

So far, we’ve not been told that the Ministry has received the money. It’s making everybody uncomfortable,” he lamented. According to him, the processes involved before the allowances are released to the teachers, are too tedious and frustrating for the teachers who only want to be paid for their work.

“The processes are just too much. It can take a week just to talk about processes for money to be released for the payment of something that has been due since September last year. This money was supposed to have been paid at the beginning of the academic year.What is being paid now is in view of the last academic year.

I can understand the frustration that members are going through leading to agitations,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we can’t streamline simple things in this country and that it should take more than a year for bureaucracies to work to pay people who are due to be paid. It’s a pity. If money is to paid to some people in September, we are in July and the processes are still going on.

Even if it’s a thousand and one processes, people must know that people demand to be paid on time.”