The President of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hostel Owners Association, Bishop Akwasi Owusu-Bi, has pushed back against calls by the Acting Rent Control Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, for measures to regulate hostel prices across the country.
The Acting Rent Control Commissioner has recently been touring some hostels and raising concerns about what he describes as exorbitant charges, particularly for student accommodation.
He has suggested the need for price regulation to protect students from what he considers excessive hostel fees.
However, Bishop Akwasi Owusu-Bi argues that controlling prices is not the best solution to the problem.
In an interview, he questioned when Ghana began controlling prices and challenged the Rent Control Commissioner to extend his concerns to other areas where accommodation is significantly more expensive.
“I remember in 1988, the government embarked on the Structural Adjustment Programme. It came out clearly that controlling prices wasn’t the best for the system. It rather made items run short because nobody wanted to go by the government prices,” he said.
He explained that price controls at the time contributed to shortages and forced people to resort to unofficial channels to obtain goods.
“So, then they hit all the items and you had to go through the back door to get them. So, when the programme realised that this was the effect of it, they scrapped controlling prices in Ghana,” he stated.
Bishop Owusu-Bi said he was therefore surprised by renewed discussions about rent control and price regulation.
“So, when all of a sudden we heard that rent control was coming up, I was like, so what are we doing? When did we begin to control prices in Ghana?” he asked.
He further questioned where the government would begin if it intended to regulate accommodation prices.
“If you want to control prices in Ghana, where do we start from? If we are starting from the Ministry of Works and Housing, that’s the housing rent, why don’t you start from East Legon? Why don’t you start from Nhyiaeso and all those places?”
“They should begin from East Legon, where prices are quoted in dollars and not in cedis. That’s where they should begin from,” he argued.
He maintained that hostel owners play an important role in providing accommodation for students who would otherwise struggle to find places to stay.
“And not when a group of people have come together to put up accommodation for students whom the students cannot be accommodated on campus, and you think you want to defend such students.
“If we withdraw our services, what do you do?” he asked.
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