High flight fares, housing costs show Ghana's economic imbalance – Kwaku Azar

US-based Ghanaian legal scholar Professor Stephen Kwaku Asare, popularly known as Kwaku Azar, has raised concerns about Ghana’s rising cost of living, using the reported GH¢5,000 cost of a return flight between Accra and Kumasi as an example.

In a Facebook post on August 20, 2026, Kwaku Azar noted that the airfare was almost twice the estimated average monthly salary of about GH¢2,580.

He acknowledged that air travel was not a necessity for every worker but questioned the lack of affordable and convenient alternatives for people who cannot afford to fly.

“Fair enough. Air travel is not a right, and not every good or service must be affordable to the average worker.

“But then we must ask the next question: what affordable and convenient alternative have we provided?” he asked.

According to him, travelling between Accra and Kumasi by road can take five to six hours, while Ghana lacks a fast intercity alternative connecting the two major cities.

He argued that the situation reflects a broader problem in which prices for housing, rent, hotels, restaurants and other essential services are increasingly disconnected from the incomes of ordinary Ghanaians.

“The unaffordable airfare, with no affordable alternatives, illustrates a much larger problem with the structure of our economy.

“Home prices in parts of Accra increasingly resemble those in much richer countries. Kumasi is learning that lesson,” he stated.

Kwaku Azar attributed the high prices to a combination of factors, including expensive financing, electricity costs, imported inputs, taxes, transport costs and weak competition in some sectors.

He also linked rising prices to corruption and political patronage, arguing that money obtained through inflated contracts, procurement abuse and rent-seeking enters the same markets where ordinary workers compete for housing, land and services.

“A person spending easily acquired public money does not bargain like a teacher, nurse, lecturer, accountant or small business owner spending painstakingly earned income.

“He can park his loot in homes. He can pay GH¢20,000 for something worth GH¢10,000. Once enough people can do that, GH¢20,000 starts becoming the market price for everybody,” he noted.

He said this could contribute to price inflation because people with access to unexplained or easily acquired wealth can afford to pay significantly more than workers relying on regular salaries.

The legal scholar also pointed to members of the diaspora and foreign-currency earners as another factor affecting prices in some markets.

Kwaku Azar called for investment in affordable alternatives, better infrastructure, stronger competition, reduced business costs and measures to tackle corruption and rent extraction.

“We must invest seriously in affordable alternatives. If flying is beyond the reach of most workers, then intercity roads and rail should allow people to move efficiently without losing half a working day travelling 250 kilometres.

“We must also attack corruption and rent extraction, not merely because public money is being stolen, but because the spending of that money can distort prices for everyone else,” he suggested.

He also stressed the need to increase productivity and household incomes rather than simply forcing businesses to reduce prices.

“Something must give. Either our productivity and incomes must rise substantially, our cost and pricing structures must change, or, preferably, both.

“The goal is not to make Ghana cheap. It is to make Ghana affordable to Ghanaians,” he said.

He concluded by questioning whether Ghana’s economy was increasingly being structured around people who earn in foreign currencies or benefit from political and economic connections, rather than ordinary workers earning local salaries.

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