On Tuesday 23rd June 2020, the GNUTS ambassador and I met with Nana Adu Bonsu, a homeowner who rents out rooms on his premises. His property is located about a 100m down Junction 1 and his building is popularly called “Whitehouse”.
After several calls were placed by the students to the SRC about challenges they were facing with this homeowner, we decided to pay him a visit and engage him on the issues the students were having grievances about.
Some final year students informed us that they were being told to vacate the premises by 1st July 2020 even though the academic calendar had been amended and the new End of Semester date has been scheduled for a day in August 2020.
We met Nana Bonsu to get a better understanding of the issue and his side of the story.
He informed us that the reason he asked all students to vacate his premises was as a result of a tenancy agreement they signed and also how some students were disrespectful to him. He further explained that in the agreement, their tenancy was due to expire on 1st July 2020. He also went ahead to inform us that his place is not a hostel but a domestic building so he was not obliged to follow the academic calendar. He stated that students who wanted to continue to live on his premises after the due date was to make a deposit of GHS 500.00 before they will be allowed to continue their stay.
After listening, we pleaded on behalf of students he felt had disrespected him and informed him that we believe the students signed and accepted the tenancy agreement because the school’s academic calendar was supposed to end before July. We further explained that the semester had become prolonged, not by our fault, but because of the unfortunate pandemic the whole world is facing.
Management and the SRC will negotiate with Nana Bonsu in order to help alleviate this problem facing the affected students. Hopefully, the right decisions will be made that would favour all the parties involved.
The SRC will continually update the affected students, as the situation continues to unravel.
Thank you.
Signed
Safo Kantanka Obed
