We Voted ‘YES’ to Ask Govt to Act on Galamsey Menace but not to Strike – UPSA UTAG Member

A member of the University Teachers Association, UTAG, at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, UPSA, has debunked rumours that they voted YES to support the strike announced by Organized Labour.

According to Professor Isaac Boadi, UTAG members at UPSA rather voted YES to ask government to tackle illegal mining activities, popularly called, galamsey, and not to embark on any strike action.

“The essence of our voting YES was not to embark on a strike action as many people may want to believe. We the members of UTAG-UPSA voted YES to ask the government to tackle illegal mining activities head-on to rid our water bodies and forests these agents of destruction” he said in an interview with ABCNews.

UTAG-UPSA, according to Professor Boadi and some of his colleagues, believe they should give the government some time to implement their plans to combat galamsey as they’ve already deployed resources to the affected sites, which is a step in the right direction.

“As educators, we have a critical role to play in serving the public, particularly our students. Their education and future shouldn’t be disrupted while we wait for the government to take action” he added.

“Let’s continue teaching and monitoring the government’s progress. If their efforts don’t yield desired results, we can reassess our stance. For now, let’s prioritize our students’ needs and give the government space to act” he said.

“Strike action should be a last resort, not a first response. Let’s exhaust all avenues before disrupting the academic activities. Our students’ education is at stake. Our students are writing mid semester exams and other academic exercises. We should give the government sometime while we continue teaching” he emphasized.

Professor Boadi also said that UTAG can only embark on a strike action when it has to do with their working conditions. Only issues that directly affect them should form the basis for them to go on strike.

“We should not join the bandwagon of people who want to strike over this. We should help in finding solutions to this challenge but not to compound it. We can’t kill one animal to resurrect another, that’s not the best. So to us, we don’t believe in and do not support UTAG going on strike. At UPSA, we are lecturing our students” he stressed on it.