After over seven (7) hours of engagement with all the stakeholders of the University of The Gambia, (i.e. MOHERST, Governing Council, OP, Student Union and Chairman of the National Assembly Select Committee for Education), a consensus was reached over the weekend. This agreement ends the sit-down strike and gives chance to students to start their exams. The University of The Gambia has now come to a consensus on the following terms:
1.The Interim Governing Council will be dissolved within three weeks and replaced with substantive new members and Chairman, as per dictates of the Tertiary and Higher Education Act 2016. (timeline: on or before 19th July 2021)
2.A new Joint Search Council and Senate Committee will be constituted in line with the Byelaws of the University of The Gambia 1999.
3.MOHERST to lift the ban on the UTG from running their engineering programs (on or before 19th July 2021)
4.The Secretary-General and Head of the Civil Service instructed UTG to augment all allowances: the low scholarship allowance to match the amount with the UTG Training and Development policy.
5.The Registrar to officially handover overseeing duties of both the Directorate of HR and Records and correspondence of the University of The Gambia back to the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Administration and Finance). This will be done (within a week) starting from Monday
6.All retirees will be replaced with identified staff and TAC volunteers (effective 17th July 2021) until the Deans and HODs elections are held in August 2021.
- The position of the DVC Academic and Admin will be advertised latest (9th July 2021)
Speaking to The Point after the agreement, Yorro Njie, secretary general- of UTGFSA, said the University of The Gambia Faculty and Staff Association (UTGFSA) decided to suspend the sit-down strike and keep monitoring the timelines as agreed. All staff are urged to report to work beginning (Monday 5th July 2021)
“The UTGFSA wants to extend its sincere appreciation to the secretary-general and head of the Civil Service, Nuha Touray, for his leadership and high level of professionalism in bringing the sit-strike to an end,” he pointed out.
He added that the Staff Association wishes to thank the UTG management through the Vice Chancellor for allowing a flexible negotiation and accepting the demands in the best interest of the University.
In addition, he said the Staff Association equally expresses gratitude to the University of The Gambia Student Union and its leadership and the entire executive council, for bringing all the parties to a single negotiating table with maximum decorum.
Furthermore, he said, the UTGFSA also wishes to extend its sincere gratitude to MOHERST through the permanent secretary and the National Assembly Select Committee for Education, through their Chairman Hon. Sidia Jatta for their acumen and guidance throughout the negotiation process. They have demonstrated the great spirit of leadership, professionalism and flexibility on almost all the demands raised by the UTGFSA.
“The Staff Association wishes to inform the entire country that all the stakeholders during this meeting demonstrated a high level of maturity and spirit of national interest in all their deliberations and engagement on the subject matter,” he disclosed.
