Bishop Akwasi Owusu-Bi, the President of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Hostel Owners Association, has told the Acting Rent Control Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, to go to East Legon to control rent prices.
Frederick Opoku has recently been touring some hostels and raising questions about what he describes as exorbitant charges.
According to Frederick Opoku, he recommends price regulation to protect students from what he considers excessive hostel fees.
However, Bishop Akwasi Owusu-Bi, speaking in an interview, argued that controlling prices is not the best solution to the problem.
According to him, if the government wants to control prices, it should start from East Legon where prices are quoted in dollars.
The President, KNUST Hostel Owners stated, “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”.
“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.
“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 added, “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”.
“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.
Some Ghanaians reacting to his comments stated, “If it’s not wickedness, tell me why a hostel owner uses an average of 30 million cedis to build a 10-floor storey building with over 950 rooms and still charges 2 in a room for 7k per person a semester”.
One X user added, “Ghanaians are not ready for these housing and renting issues. The government, universities and private businesses. Government should control prices from hardware products to processes involved in acquiring land. 32.5R cement should have the same price across the nation”.
A netizen added, “What he’s doing is goal post shifting. A causal diagnosis gets diverted into a “competing diagnosis”, creating an argument about which problem should be addressed first; eventually, as all Ghanaian leaders do, he’ll deflect, and we’ll move on like it never happened”.
One last netizen noted, “It’s unfortunate to hear this.
But due to the significant housing deficit, this will continue irrespective of what government does.
A number of government-funded housing projects have been left in the bushes, and it breaks my heart anytime I pass by.
How can we build this country when accommodation is taking over 50% of the average person’s monthly salary?
How?”.
Watch the video below:
“If they want to control rents, they should start from East Legon and Nhyiaeso. They pay in dollars. When did we start controlling prices in Ghana?” – President, KNUST Hostel Owners.#JoyNews pic.twitter.com/oh8dguPl9i
— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) August 18, 2026
@ghnow_ A lone protester has made serious allegations against Hon. Sam George #fyp #GHnow ♬ original sound – GHnow
@ghnow_ A man made some serious allegations against some politicians infront of the Parliament House #GHnow #fyp ♬ original sound – GHnow
