The Director-General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), Professor Abdulai Jinapor, has blamed the University of Ghana (UG) for delays in paying lecturers’ Book and Research Allowances, insisting that the government has made funds available for disbursement.
The University of Ghana branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UG-UTAG) has threatened to embark on a strike on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, over the delayed payment of the annual allowances.
The association has accused the government of failing to honour a memorandum of understanding (MoU) requiring the allowances to be paid in August, although lecturers at some universities have reportedly received their payments.
However, in an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Monday, October 19, Professor Jinapor said the government had mobilised about GH¢400 million for the payments.
He said GH¢238 million had already been paid to 56 institutions under the first batch, while approximately GH¢198 million had been earmarked for institutions under the second batch, which includes the University of Ghana.
“Government, as we speak now, has been able to raise some GH¢400 million for disbursement for books and research. The money is sitting down,” he said.
Professor Jinapor disputed claims that the government had delayed the payments and challenged UG-UTAG to produce any agreement requiring the allowances to be paid in August.
“I have never cited any document between UTAG and the government that says that book and research allowance should be paid in August. I haven’t seen it. If there’s any, I want to see it,” he said.
He explained that the payment process begins several months before disbursement and requires universities to submit the relevant information on their lecturers.
According to him, GTEC wrote to institutions in both batches on Monday, October 12, asking them to process and submit the necessary data to facilitate payment.
He alleged that the University of Ghana had not completed the required process, arguing that the outstanding payments could not be attributed to the government.
“For some reason, the University of Ghana hasn’t processed their inputs,” he said.
“So if UTAG wants to go on strike, then you should start accusing the University of Ghana in terms of those who are supposed to input the data and not the government.”
Professor Jinapor said several institutions had already received their allowances, putting the number of institutions paid at about 78. He cited Sunyani Technical University as an institution under the second batch that had processed its data and received payment.
He urged UG-UTAG to focus on ensuring that the university submitted the required information rather than threatening industrial action.
“Why won’t you concentrate its energy on getting the input so that they will be paid instead of threatening that they are going on strike? I don’t think it augurs well for the image of the institution,” he said.
The GTEC Director-General also questioned what he described as the frequent resort to strike threats by lecturers at the University of Ghana, arguing that the practice could undermine public confidence in the association.
“When I hear you, UTAG, from the University of Ghana, every time they want to go on strike, I sit down, and I ask myself, it looks as if this whole idea of strike is losing its potential,” he said.
He maintained that the funds were available and that the outstanding payments could be processed once the university submitted the required information.
