Breach of agreement, landlord/tenancy cases high in Dormaa area - CHRAJ District Director

Mr Eric K. Aboyer, the Dormaa District Director, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) on Wednesday disclosed that breach of agreement, landlord/tenancy cases were on the increase in the Dormaa area of the Bono Region.

Speaking in an interview with GNA at Dormaa-Ahenkro, Mr Aboyer said issues bothering on individual’s economic and social rights of which landlords/tenants were inclusive were the highest recorded cases, with 114 of them documented last year.

He stated even though the Rent Control Office was officially required to legally resolve such cases, the lack of an office space meant that the Commission had to step in to mediate, negotiate and settle such disputes and complaints brought before it from all three districts - Dormaa Central, Dormaa East, and Dormaa West.

Mr Aboyer said "the issue of rent and tenancy is a huge problem in this area. We are still trying to find how best to solve these challenges, even though it's not within our mandate but through public education, awareness creation, and sensitisation the burden of rising recorded cases can be reduced”.

“When we are not able to resolve the cases we refer the parties to Sunyani and the burden of travelling a long distance from Dormaa-Ahenkro just because of a case is worrying. Landlords and tenants take each other for granted. If we were to refer all cases to Sunyani I don’t think it will help in bringing justice to many", he added.

Mr. Aboyer revealed that 34 landlords/tenants cases were recorded by his office during the first quarter of this year, but 18 of them have been resolved, stressing more public education on landlord/tenancy relationship is needed as people are ignorant of the provisions in the Rent Act.

He suggested the need for Rent Control to intensify public education on landlord/tenancy rights and relationships to enlighten members of the general public.

“Before we settle any case, we use part of our time to educate the parties about what the Commission does before we address substantive matters - complaints and grievances”, Mr. Aboyer said.