The Russia branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has accused the Mahama administration of failing to protect teachers’ welfare and reversing policies introduced by the previous NPP government.
In a statement issued by its Assistant Secretary, Abubakari Yushawu, the branch said the NPP had abolished the Three-Month Pay Policy, preserved the automatic posting of teachers and settled all outstanding arrears owed to them.
It contrasted that record with the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s decision to increase salaries by 10% in 2025 and reduce the increase to 9% in 2026.
The statement also alleged that the government had ended automatic teacher postings, failed to promote qualified teachers who had completed interviews and not paid the Continuous Professional Development Allowance.
“They have also wickedly abolished the automatic posting of teachers and refused to promote teachers who are duly qualified for promotion after going through interviews.
“They have also not paid the Continuous Professional Development Allowance for teachers,” it said.
Yushawu said his assessment was based on what he described as a series of policies introduced by John Mahama and the NDC that adversely affected teachers.
He recalled entering teacher training college in 2013, during Mahama’s presidency following the death of H.E. Prof. Mills. That year, he said, the government raised the possibility of cancelling the teacher trainee allowance.
According to Yushawu, student teachers organised several demonstrations against the proposal because the allowance helped many people finance their education. He said the then Minister for Education, Jane Naana, told the protesters that their concerns did not matter and that they could “go to hell” with them. The allowance was subsequently cancelled, he said.
Yushawu also criticised the Three-Month Pay Policy, under which the government would pay no more than three months of salary arrears, regardless of the length of time workers had gone unpaid.
He said newly posted teachers frequently waited several months, and sometimes years, for their salaries to be processed. Despite the length of service involved, he claimed, they would receive payment for only three months of arrears.
After completing his training, Yushawu said he and other teachers were posted to distant locations, including regions different from their own, despite not having received the trainee allowance. They reported for duty and worked for seven months without pay, he said, but were paid for only two months when their salaries eventually arrived. The NDC left office in 2016.
Yushawu said the basic salary for a newly posted teacher before the NPP took power was GH¢1,200, meaning a newly posted diploma teacher received a net salary of GH¢1,200 after 30 days of work.
He said the NPP later raised base pay by 12.5% in 2017, 11% in 2018, 10% in 2019 and 15% in 2020. It also approved an annual Continuous Professional Development Allowance of GH¢1,200, which he said improved teachers’ incomes.
He ended by asking: “Does John Mahama hate teachers?”
By Abubakari Yushawu, Assistant Secretary of the Russia Branch
