We’ll block gov’t from weaning public universities off payroll – Minority

The Member of Parliament for Akatsi North, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe has said the Minority in Parliament will prevent the government from carrying out its measure of weaning public universities off the government payroll.

He said if the government carries out this measure, the universities will be forced to generate their own revenue through fees to pay lecturers and staff, a situation he feared will increase the cost of university education in the country.

The Finance Minister Mr Ken Ofori-Atta while announcing measures to deal with the economic challenges facing the country at the moment said at a press conference in Accra on Thursday, March 24 that “additionally, the following measures will be implemented over the
medium-term: Wean-off public tertiary institutions from government payroll and provide them with a fixed amount ‘block grant’ instead.

“Pursue reforms to address structural challenges in public financial management including procurement and commitment control, payroll management and human resource management.”

But reacting to this development, Mr Nortsu-Kotoe told TV3 that “The Minister announced that with immediate effect they are going to wean off public tertiary institutions from the government payroll.

“What it means is that the Universities will have to pay their lecturers and staff. Any organization that is weaned off government payroll you must generate your own revenue. An example is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) they were weaned off government payroll so they generate their own revenue and pay their staff. But in the case of the public universities, they only charge fees, academic user fees.

“These are very minimal fees because the government pays for tuition and that translates into the salaries that they pay to lectures and auxiliary staff. So if you are weaning them off the government payroll, that means the government is not going to pay their salaries. They say they will give grants. That grant, is it going to cover all the salaries for lecturers and staff? That is not clear.

“It is an attempt by the government to let our public tertiary institutions go private so that they will generate their own revenue and pay their staff just as private universities are doing.

“That is going to increase the high cost of university education in the country which many parents will not be able to afford. So we as a minority, we will make sure that we prevent the government from carrying out these measures.”