Prez Mahama Is Too Stubborn To See Reason With Teachers

President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT), Ernest Opoku has blamed the insubordination of the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education to meet the demands of the teachers on President John Dramani Mahama. According to him, President Mahama has refused to see reason with the plight of teachers in the country under the pretense of honouring promises, despite the several petitions for mediation on issues concerning their unpaid allowances. Speaking on Oman Fm�s Morning Show, Mr. Opoku lamented the non-reactiveness of President Mahama to address the grievances of teachers saying several attempts to press home their demands have proved futile. Riled by the apparent snub in updating them on progress being made by the ministry, three teacher unions - Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) - declared a nationwide strike starting today, 28th October, 2014. Teachers are also accusing the Ministry of Finance of deliberately frustrating newly trained teachers from performing their duties effectively. Mr. Ernest Opoku maintained that the Labor Commissioner is even fed up with the issue of allowances of teachers as the commission, for the past 2 years, has been saddled with this issue, stating the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Education have on several occasions turned down their invitations. �For me, I will say that President Mahama is too stubborn to see reason with teachers and what is surprising to me is that despite our meeting with the President and his repeated assurances, nothing fruitful has been achieved��our teachers are suffering and some of the newly trained teachers have not received their salary arrears for the past 2 years��this means that nobody is proactive in this government�, he opined.