Counsel Appeals To Court To Expedite Proceedings

The counsel for the National Labour Commission (NLC), Mr. Oscar Asante-Nnuro, yesterday pleaded with the Accra Human Rights Court to expedite proceedings in the ongoing case between NLC and the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana, (POTAG). He further pleaded with the court to intervene in the POTAG strike, and possibly ask the lecturers to return to the classroom. The court, presided over by Justice Essel Kofi Mensah, however, said the court could not step into administrative issues between the Ministry of Education and its agencies and by extension, the action of the lecturers, while the matter was still pending before the court. He said the court was only empowered to look into the legal issues concerning the eight-week strike and the directive by the NLC and subsequently determine whether it was legal. The NLC is in court to enforce its ruling in the impasse between the government and POTAG over the scrapping of the research and book allowance. The NLC had ruled that POTAG returns to work, while arbitration procedures are initiated to address their concern, but POTAG disregarded the ruling, thus forcing the NLC to go to court. At Monday�s sitting, the court adjourned hearing to July 14, after both parties had realized their addresses filed before the court were not placed on the docket. The counsel of POTAG, Mr. Justin Pwavra Teriwajah told the court that POTAG had filed an address and a subsequent reply to the NLC�s address on June 30. Mr. Nnuro also said the address by the NLC attached to its application had also been brought before the court. However, Justice Mensah said the court only had the address of the NLC on docket, while that of POTAG had not come to the notice of the court. He, therefore, ordered that POTAG ensures that its addresses, both the formal and the reply, be replaced on docket, to enable the court to fix a date for the ruling. Meanwhile, the Polytechnic Students Association of Ghana (PSAG) has mounted pressure on government to intervene in the impasse between their lecturers and the NLC. Some students last Thursday thronged the Ministry of Education to submit a petition, requesting government to intervene in the impasse. They have also petitioned President John Dramani Mahama, through the Regional Ministers on the issue.