Wa Landlords Exploiting UDS Students

Students of the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) are heavily exploited by inconsiderate local landlords, Reverend Professor Abraham Berinyuu, Dean of the campus said on Thursday and asked the Government for help. He appealed particularly to the Upper West Regional Coordinating Council to meet with the landlords and sensitize them to cooperate with the University authorities to make life bearable for the students in the town. Some of the landlords, who were demanding huge rent advances from the students, did not even have simple facilities like toilet, water and electricity in the houses they were renting out to the students. Professor Berinyuu expressed these concerns at this year's Matriculation of the Wa Campus during which 4,878 fresh students were formally initiated into the University's community to undertake various courses at the Under Graduate and Post Graduate levels. The Wa campus which is the largest of the three campuses of the University is saddled with serious infrastructural problems. It has three faculties, namely Integrated Development Studies, Planning and Land Management and 648, Law and Business Studies. Checks conducted by the Ghana News Agency in the Municipality revealed that last year, most of the Landlords charged 200 Ghana cedis for a single room apartment for the year but this shot up to 400 Ghana Cedis this academic year. Professor Berinyuu commended the Regional Coordinating Council and the Wa Municipal Assembly for improving on the conditions at the permanent site especially,with street lights and drains. Professor Haruna Yakubu, Vice Chancellor of the UDS in a speech read on his behalf, advised the students to let reason and good judgment regulate their behaviour in the University. He warned that all results slips would be verified during the course of the year to weed out those who might have gained admission through the use of fraudulent results. According to him, 16,025 applied for admission to the University this year but 14,526 met the general requirements for University entry. However, 7,028 Degree and Diploma applicants accepted the offer of admission which brought the University's population to 19,800. Alhaji Issahaku Salia, Upper West Regional Minister, said Government was committed to the development of the campus to the highest standard and announced that work on a library complex would soon begin on campus. He said the Ghana 648al Trust Fund (GET-Fund) would aid the construction of additional buildings at the campus and promised to follow up on developments in that direction. The Regional Minister also promised to meet landlords in the Municipality to forge a common understanding with them to reflect the needs of the students.