The Acting Rent Commissioner, Frederick Opoku, has revealed the severe logistical challenges facing the Rent Control Department, saying the lack of resources has significantly hampered its ability to operate effectively across the country.
Speaking on Adom FM’s morning show, Dwaso Nsem, Mr. Opoku painted a picture of an institution struggling to function under difficult circumstances.
“Under normal circumstances, Rent Control should be everywhere, but as I speak with you today, we have only 66 offices to cover 262 districts. Some of these are just satellite offices, and we have only three vehicles for the entire country. In the Ashanti Region, for example, there’s no functioning vehicle at all, it’s broken down,” he said.
Mr. Opoku was critical of past governments, saying successive administrations had failed to take Rent Control seriously.
“We’ve had ministers come and go; they were aware of these challenges, yet nothing was done. The NPP government promised digitalisation, but there’s nothing like digitalisation at Rent Control. They only lied to us,” he added.
The Acting Commissioner stressed that inadequate staffing further compounds the problem.
“We have offices with just one or two people in charge of an entire district. How do you expect them to work efficiently?” he asked rhetorically.
He also disclosed the practical difficulties in performing assessments.
“If Rent Control staff have to go out to carry out assessments, where should they go when there’s no car? How can the department function when it doesn’t have the necessary resources?”
Despite the challenges, Mr. Opoku said his interaction with the Ministry of Works and Housing has been encouraging.
“Since I assumed office, the Ministry has assured me that they will do everything humanly possible to make my work easier. I have highlighted the things that have gone wrong at Rent Control, and they have promised to support me so Ghanaians can finally have a sigh of relief.”
He concluded with a call for sustained support and recognition of the department’s challenges. “Rent Control has been under-resourced for too long. If we are serious about regulating the housing sector, we must equip the department with vehicles, staff, and offices to function effectively,” he said.
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