Tenants accuse government of failed promises in housing sector

Members of the National Tenants Union of Ghana have accused the government of failing to honour its promises in the housing sector.

Frederick Opoku, Secretary-General of the National Tenants Union of Ghana, questioned what has become of the National Rental Assistance Scheme that was promised by the government.

The government of Ghana announced a plan to introduce a new housing scheme called the National Rental Assistance Scheme.

This was revealed in the 2021 Budget statement read in parliament by Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, Member of Parliament, Suame Constituency in the Ashanti Region, Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs on 12th March 2021, on behalf of Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta, who had travelled to the United States for medical attention.

This scheme was expected to be a partnership between the government and the private sector with a GH¢100,000,000 capital from the government.

The scheme was also expected to make rent easy for the citizens of Ghana because there will be a provision of low-interest credit eligible citizens to pay their house rent in advance to reduce the challenges faced by Ghanaians in acquiring a decent home.

Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu said, “Mr. Speaker, in partnership with the private sector, we will commence the establishment of a National Rental Assistance Scheme (NRAS), with a seed of GH¢100 million”, and he also noted that “The scheme will crowd-in additional investment from the private sector, to provide low-interest loans to eligible Ghanaians to enable them to pay rent advance”.

If the government of Ghana execute this scheme, the problem of house rent would be minimal in the sense that most eligible Ghanaians would have access to a lump sum cash to fund their accommodation with the ability to pay later at a low-interest rate analysts said.

Speaking on this matter on TV3, Mr Frederick Opoku said, “There are a lot of promises that they have defaulted. As a whole union fronting for over 15million Ghanaians, do you know how many people call me every day that Fred, have you been following up on the national rent assistance scheme project?

“I met and wrote to the Minister of Works and Housing Francis Asenso-Boakye that Mr Minister, this is what you pledged; Ghanaians are asking what has become of the pledge? Is it just a mere theatrical or rhetoric?”

He added, “Enough is enough; you can’t just bring promises when we are getting to elections, deceive Ghanaians and do whatever, come in, lie to them, and you leave.”