The Acting Rent Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, has called out SSNIT over the astronomical hostel fees being charged by Pentagon Hostels, commonly known as Pent.
According to the Rent Commissioner, SSNIT must bow its head in shame for exploiting parents who pension they manage.
Frederick Opoku quizzed SSNIT on whether they want students to engage in prostitution before they can afford their hostel fees.
Speaking on Hitz FM, Frederick Opoku fumed, “If you go to Pent hostel, called Ghana Hostels Limited, that is the name, Pent for SSNIT. You SSNIT that you are managing people’s pension rights, and the same parent you manage their pension, you are exploiting them. What kind of behaviour is that?
SSNIT should bow its head in shame; you can never use people’s money and manage and still exploit them. I went there, I didn’t bring the sheet, and I don’t want to be liable for any legal issues. I just want to speak to the issues”.
He added, “You go to Pent, they say there are new Pent and old Pent. Look at this terminology and semantics. This one is a new block, and the old block has 4 students in one room; they will take you like GHS6000 for the old one.
The new one is GHS8000 per semester, in fact, one room with air conditioning, they are talking about GHS20,000 plus or GHS30,000. What is the meaning of this? Do you want them to do prostitution to come and pay?”
Some Ghanaians reacting to the Rent Commissioner remarks stated, “Good evening a free market doesn’t mean you should operate outside established laws. The trotro drivers are equally operating under a free market economy yet their operations are regulated by a body”.
A Facebooker added, “Our problem in this country is that we know too much. So this man is fighting for a good cause, but after reading through some of the messages, you could see comments like, ” We have free market, we have free market. These same people, when the dial is don on them, and they start feeling the heat, their response changes. Let’s support what is good and stop this too-know kind of life”.
“Boi! The comment section is really eye-opening!🤔
A lot of tenants in Accra are genuinely suffering because of the current rent situation. The cost of renting keeps going up, yet many of these rooms, hostels, and apartments are not even up to standard or located in decent communities.
Now that someone is finally speaking up and trying to address the issue, some people are fighting against it simply because they benefit from the broken system or hope to cash in on it themselves someday.
At this point, housing is becoming more of a business for quick money than a basic necessity for people trying to survive. Something truly needs to change”, one more Ghanaian added.
Meanwhile, Students of the University of Ghana have been constantly demanding urgent action against what they describe as outrageous and exploitative hostel fees.
Last year, SRC General Secretary, Sandra Owie, in a strongly-worded statement on Facebook, called out hostel operators, saying, “It is with deep concern and justified anger that I address the unbearable hostel fees being charged at Vikings and similar private hostels around the University of Ghana. The situation has reached an unacceptable level, and it is high time we called things by their proper name: exploitation”.
“How can we, in good conscience, accept over ₵10,000 for a shared room of four and as high as ₵38,000 for a single room?” she quizzed.
“Enough is enough. We refuse to be exploited, and we will resist any attempt by hostel operators to profit off the desperation of students,” she declared.
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