A sharp discord has emerged within government over how and when newly recruited teachers, who have gone without salaries for 13 months, will be paid.
Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu and Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem gave strikingly different assurances to the aggrieved teachers during separate meetings on Tuesday, September 30, after the group staged a mass protest through Accra.
The teachers, made up of graduates from the 2022 batch of Colleges of Education and university-trained teachers, marched from Obra Spot at Kwame Nkrumah Circle through the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance before converging at the Jubilee House.
Their demand was simple: immediate payment of salary arrears ranging from nine to thirteen months. But what they received instead were two contradictory promises from the government’s own frontline officials.
At the Jubilee House, Minister of Education Haruna Iddrisu offered strong words of support and pledged swift government action. Calling the unpaid salaries “an unacceptable labour practice,” he assured the petitioners that the matter would receive urgent attention.
“I’m here to receive your humble petition and to assure you that I will walk the talk on the issue of the unfair labour treatment that has been meted out to you. It is an unacceptable labour practice anywhere that you will work for 13 months without pay. Be assured that I’m on top of the matter,” Mr. Iddrisu said.
He revealed that he had already met with Finance Minister Dr. Cassiel Ato Forson on September 23 to deliberate on the matter, adding that the two of them were preparing a joint cabinet memorandum to be laid before the government for urgent consideration.
He further disclosed that, beyond resolving the arrears, the government planned to recruit an additional 53,000 teachers into the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.
But at the Ministry of Finance, Deputy Finance Minister Thomas Nyarko Ampem struck an entirely different note.
Rather than immediate relief, he informed the teachers that their arrears would be included in the 2026 budget, due to be presented to Parliament next month.
“I was a teacher, and I was posted to teach, and I was not paid for 8 months. I can relate perfectly well with all of you. The Finance Minister says he sympathises with you, and he has briefed President John Dramani Mahama, and he has been given the green light to make sure he fixes your problem,” Mr. Ampem said.
He added: “The Finance Minister will present the next budget, and he will make provision for all of you to be catered for; you should be very happy that your problem will be fixed; that is the good news. You will be paid.”
His words, however, failed to calm the protesters, who described the suggestion of waiting until next year for their unpaid salaries already owed them as “inhumane.”
Lead convener of the group, Simon Kofi Nartey, said the delays had pushed many of his colleagues to the brink of destitution. “All efforts to resolve the issue have been ignored, forcing us to resort to the demonstration. Our demands go beyond survival. The quality of education suffers when newly recruited teachers cannot afford essentials like transportation and accommodation,” he stressed.
The starkly different timelines offered by the two ministers have left the protesting teachers confused and frustrated. While the Education Minister promises urgent action, the Deputy Finance Minister’s comments suggest months of further waiting.
For the thousands of unpaid teachers, the discord in government messaging has deepened their fears that their plight may linger unresolved.
As one protester summed up after hearing both ministers’ remarks: “If they themselves do not agree, then what hope is there for us?”
