The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is asking the government not to go ahead with its directive to remove all lecturers on post-retirement contract on the payroll of government.

UTAG president, Eric Opoku Mensah, says the move will deny public Universities across the country experienced brains that will keep the academia functioning efficiently and effectively.

The President of UTAG was speaking at UTAG's national forum on education at Elmina in the Central Region.

His comments follow complaints by the Auditor General Daniel Domelevo that public officers who should be on retirement keep renewing their contracts thereby choking the system.

According to him the continuous contract extension is a contributory factor to the graduate unemployment because persons who have attained retirement age and ought to give way continue to renew their contracts.

But UTAG president is convinced allowing retirees few more years in service will rather help the universities.

 Joy News’ Central Region correspondent Richard Kwadwo Nyarko reported the UTAG president as saying lecturers grow with experience and the policy will hamper the effective teaching at the universities.

“Our universities have been hit with yet a new directive by the government. All lecturers on post-retirement contract beyond the age of 65 years can no longer be on the government payroll and that if the universities are going to continue to engage these professors then they should be prepared to pay these academics from internally generated funds.

“Universities by virtue of their nature cannot be treated as part of the public service

“Lectures are wine the older they get, the better they become. If this directive is carried out by 31 October 2018, then those that will be affected are the finest in our universities,” the UTAG president said.

Eric Opoku Mensah insists the policy poses a great danger to university education in the country.