The University of Ghana branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG-UG) threatened to withdraw teaching from 19 October 2026 unless members’ Book and Research Allowance is paid.
In a notice to the National Labour Commission dated 9 October, the branch gave the government until Friday, 16 October, to pay the 2026 allowance. It said members would withdraw all teaching and related services from the following Monday if the money had not arrived.
The branch said the delay breaches a 2020 Memorandum of Agreement between UTAG and the government, which it said requires the allowance to be paid by the end of August each year.
A walkout at the country’s largest public university would disrupt the new academic year at Legon. It would also add to pressure from other unions in the sector. The Technical University Teachers’ Association of Ghana (TUTAG) has been on strike since 1 October.
The allowance helps lecturers buy books and academic materials, fund research and attend scholarly events. It has been a recurring flashpoint this year. In June, UTAG’s national leadership threatened a nationwide strike over the Finance Ministry’s delay in releasing the dollar exchange rate used to calculate the allowance. It later set a 30 June deadline for the government to resolve outstanding conditions-of-service issues, and suspended planned action in early July after government assurances.
There are signs that payment is moving. TUTAG President Professor Deodat Adenutsi said on 1 October that a letter from the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, dated 28 September, confirmed funds had been released on the government’s financial management system for first-batch payments by individual institutions. He said TUTAG no longer treated the allowance as a ground for its own strike. TUTAG is instead striking over unpaid post-retirement contracts and other conditions of service.
