“I still remember the words of Bawumia; the teachers are suffering, Ghanaians are suffering. In fact, we are suffering more. Somebody should listen to us.” Those were the words of Deputy General Secretary of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr. Michael Ayuraboya in an interview on A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper East on Monday, November 9,2021. He made the comments on the back of the Association’s intended strike.
According to him, the recent hikes in fuel prices, affecting the cost of goods and services, make life difficult for the teachers. He said it had become increasingly impossible to survive on the measly salaries they are paid.
Mr. Ayuraboya indicated that the 4 percent adjustment of salaries by government this year is insignificant and thus reiterated the demand made by the Vice President of the association, Mr. Jacob Anaaba on Monday, November 8, 2021 for government to reconvene an emergency meeting to address their concerns.
He re-echoed his vice president, stating that members of the association will lay down their tools should government fail to meet their demands.
“Goods and services have gone up, fuel prices have gone up and yet our salaries remain the way they are. We came before you and you gave us 4 percent against our wish in the name that the economy is not good and if the economy is not good it’s not only us who will be feeling it. We simply cannot live in this country with the kind of salary we have. That’s the point, we just simply cannot live in this country,” he lamented.
The Vice President’ now-famous chant, ‘Ghanaians are suffering’, was birthed in the run-up to the 2016 general election. The Vice President categorized various professions in the country and described how persons in those fields, including teachers, were feeling the devastating effects of the ‘poor economy’ under former president Mahama.
But Mr. Ayuraboya expressed disquiet over what he described as government’s insensitivity to the well-being of the Ghanaian teacher.
Meanwhile, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Education Committee and Member of Parliament for Akatsi North Constituency in the Voltage Region, Peter Kwasi Nortsu-Kotoe, speaking on the same platform, described as unfortunate the government’s delay in resolving the persistent problems teachers are confronted within the country. He said his committee may not be able to talk to NAGRAT to back down their decision to embark on their industrial action.
The last time NAGRAT went on strike was in September 2019.
Ahead of May Day, NAGRAT called for 15-20 percent increment of the salaries of workers.
But in July this year, the Trades Union Congress arrived at an agreement to increase workers’ salaries by 4 percent in 2021 and 7 percent in 2022.
Source/www.a1radioonline.com/101.1 MHz/Elijah Beyeni Yenibey/Ghana
