Dean of students at the University of Ghana says undue government interference has plunged the University into accommodation crisis.

 According to Prof Godfred Bokpin, the University has failed to house of all of its freshly admitted students because the government has consistently resisted attempts by the University to increase fees to develop more infrastructure.

“We don’t want the university to run efficiently and effectively and the reason has to do with excessive government interference or influence which does not allow the university to put into practice all that it intends to do,” he told Joy News.

Accommodation crises on the University of Ghana campus is a recurring phenomenon.

The acute nature of the situation led to the management of the school adopting IN-OUT-OUT–IN residential policy.

By this policy, only first and final year students were housed on campus.

Second and third-year students were on their own.

Majority of students insisted on being housed on campus because of the rising cost of transportation. 

This gave room for private developers to take advantage of the situation by providing hostels to house the students who could not be housed by the university.

The current situation where freshly admitted students cannot be accommodated by both traditional halls and private hostels only explain how the university which was established several years back continues to grow in numbers as the years go by.

The dean of students believes the problem can be addressed if the government allows the university to increase fees especial those on accommodation. 

Despite the increasing cost of good and services, Godfred Bokpin maintains that within the last three years, the university has only been permitted to increase its services only by five per cent.

“All that we got this year is five per cent when inflation is far above five per cent. That way there is no way of covering the cost of running these facilities. That is the problem,” he said in exhilaration. 

Hall Manager for Bani Hostel, Selasy Stephen Tede told Joy News, the high-interest rate regime is making it difficult for private developers to invest in developing more hostels.