University of Ghana Students Going Through Hell

The acute accommodation crisis at the University of Ghana, Legon is wrecking havoc on the 2003-2004 freshmen who arrived on campus about a fortnight ago. Some of them, especially those from other regions and cities outside Accra, are going through hell and cursing their stars for the difficulty confronting them since they set foot on campus.

"We have been here for about two weeks and have nowhere to sleep; some of us have been illegally sleeping in the lecture theatres and on verandas," bemoaned a cross-section of freshmen and women who spoke to The Heritage on condition of anonymity. Professor Ofori Sarpong, Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, last week told Kwame Sefa-Kayi, the Morning Show host of Peace 104.3 FM, that to alleviate the plight of the students, he had intervened to impress upon the hall masters at Legon, the need to accord the new entrants temporary accommodation to enable them to acclamatise and register while they looked for their own accommodation.

However, all attempts by The Heritage to contact Professor Sarpong to ascertain whether the hall masters acceded to his request proved futile as a result of the strike action embarked upon by the members of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG).

The woes of freshmen and women heightened in the last couple of years since the authorities of the country's premier university decided to delink admission into the university from accommodation.

Under the policy, students who gain admission are required to negotiate or look for their own accommodation either on campus or elsewhere.

This has become necessary due to scarcity of residential facilities in the country's tertiary institutions, especially Legon, which was built in 1948, but is only now executing its third strategic development plan, which caters for the infrastructural and other needs of the institution and how to meet them