UDS Students express concern about high rent charges

Wa, Sept. 19, GNA - Many students who gained admission to the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) this year cannot afford residential accommodation due to high rents being charged by property owners, the Ghana News Agency has learnt. Landlords in the Municipality are charging between GHc150 and GHc350 per year for a single room apartment, which many of the students are finding difficult to afford.

Mr. Alphonse Naab, president of the Central Students Representative Council, expressed this concern at a meeting with house owners at Wa. The meeting was called at the instance of Mr. George Hikah Benson, Upper West Regional Minister, following complaints made to him by the students on the situation.

Mr. Naab said there were neither toilet facilities nor water in some of the apartments and that make shift structures were erected to serve as bath rooms.

He appealed to property owners to collaborate with the UDS authorities to help students out of their predicament. Mr. Benson appealed to the house owners to consider the students as their own children and give them the maximum support in terms of accommodation to enable them to complete their courses. He said the government had plans to build more residential facilities for in the area for students, adding that until that was done property owners should help the students by charging moderate rent. Alhaji Sulemana Yahaya, Chairman of the Landlords Association in the Municipality described the meeting as belated because some of the students had already paid the rents. He called for the establishment of a taskforce of all stakeholders to address the issue.