The National Tenants Union of Ghana has hinted at embarking on a nationwide demonstration to express its displeasure with the high rent charges in the country.
This comes on the back of successive government’s failure to address the housing challenges faced by Ghanaians, since the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1992, leaving Ghana’s housing deficit at an
alarming 1.8 million housing units.
“We have given the government days to secure funds to rehabilitate the Saglemi housing units, or the government does what it plans to do. Citizens are wailing about bad governance. I haven’t seen Ghanaians benefit from any privately owned developer in any way.
The government has less than a year to exit office, so it should allow fresh minds to inject ideas into the housing projects.
Our demonstration is called one region, one demo, or ‘3nntumi ntua demo’. We have declared that if they do not heed our call, we’ll start from Greater Accra to other regions.”
In an interview with the host of Adzekyee Mu Nsem, Obeng Darko Ampem, on Spice FM, the Secretary General of the Association, Frederick Opoku, noted that they are against the government’s plans to give out the 1,506 housing units to a private developer.
Stating reasons contrary to the government’s purported commitment to poverty alleviation and
empowering the impoverished, this decision veers sharply away from such objectives, and by privatizing the project, the government undermines any hope of providing genuinely affordable housing for those unable to afford the market rate.
He contends that such a move will not alleviate high rent ratings but will only escalate them.
According to the group, if all pleas fall on deaf ears, they have no option but to embark on “one region, one demo,” dubbed “3nntumi ntua,” to amplify their approach.
Touching on the Rent Scheme, Mr Opoku said, the Scheme lacks some form of deficiencies, which needs to be relooked.
According to him, the Scheme was launched to favour some section of the people and not the vulnerable as it seems to be.
“The scheme is made to favour some people in the population. We have had enough of such actions from the government. The association has not embarked on any demonstration before, but this is our first, and we will make it happen.”
Mr. Fredrick Opoku proposed collaborations between the government and cooperative unions to work closely toward closing the housing deficit gap.
