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Public Relations Officer for the Fair Wages and Salaries Commission, Earl Ankrah, has put a spoke in the wheels of the striking University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG's) demands by stating emphatically that they would only get their accrued arrears paid to them by government in installments and not all at once. UTAG is threatening to embark on a strike action because of Governments' inability to make a lump sum payment of their 2012 market premium arrears. Government, at a meeting with the leadership of UTAG last Wednesday to find an amicable solution, failed to reach a consensus, after the leadership of the striking teachers decided to run government's proposal by their members before taking a decision.. Government wants to pay the arrears in three installments beginning next month. The arrears, per government's proposal, would be paid on installment as follows: May 2013 -4 months arrears; July 2013 - 4 months arrears and September 2013 - 4 months arrears. But the teachers are adamant and have rejected the installment payment proposal particularly when the government reportedly doled out a whopping GHC 47 million to all 230 Members of Parliament who served in the 5th Parliament of the Fourth Republic. They are therefore insisting a one-time payment of the one year arrears which is inching close to some 10 million cedis. Mr. Ankrah reiterated that though the Commission has agreed to how to pay that money, UTAG is not the only group benefiting from the Interim Market Premium Agreement. "There are a whole lot of other groups and we invited them all around the table to discuss it. The groups came for two days but UTAG showed up for one day and refused to come the second day because they want this lump sum agreement�. �We went ahead to agree with the rest of the groups, we have signed and implementation is starting this May. So how do we turn around and come to UTAG and say ok, you are going to get your one lump sum. All the other groups want the one lump sum but the thing is such that we had to sit down and negotiate. Their members have accepted it and they are going to take the payment. How come UTAG is saying no and how are we going to tell the other group that UTAG is going to receive that special treatment and you can�t? It means they would all come on strike and we would have a bigger problem on our hands as a country,� he explained. The FWSC spokesperson, who indicated that the FWSC was in no position to meet the demands of the University lecturers, however made a passionate appeal to the leadership of UTAG to rescind their decision and agree to the terms of payment the Commission has tabled. �It is unfortunate for me to take the duty of breaking this bad news; that lump sum payment is not gonna happen,� he categorically stated.