UG students reject hostel fee hikes as EFL raises academic freedom concerns

The Economic Fighters League (EFL) has thrown its support behind students of the University of Ghana who staged a demonstration against increased hostel accommodation charges, describing the protest as a broader struggle to protect academic freedom and the right of students to organise and challenge university authorities.

The group said the demonstration on November 9, 2026, had brought renewed attention to concerns about rising accommodation costs, student representation and what it described as an increasingly restrictive environment for student activism on university campuses.

In a statement issued under the banner of its Students Command, the EFL commended members of the Concerned Students of the University of Ghana and allied groups for taking to the streets to oppose the proposed increases by the University of Ghana Enterprises Limited (UGEL).

The university's initial proposal was to increase hostel fees by 26 per cent, but the adjustment was subsequently revised to between 15 and 19 per cent following engagements with stakeholders.

The students, however, rejected the revised charges, particularly the 15 per cent increase for standard four-in-a-room accommodation.

They are also demanding the abolition of the UGEL hostel management framework, the removal of its management and greater transparency and accountability in the determination of accommodation fees.

The EFL said the students' concerns were justified, arguing that they were being asked to pay higher charges without sufficient evidence of corresponding improvements in accommodation facilities or meaningful consultation.

It said the increases would further strain students and their families at a time when the cost of living was already placing considerable pressure on household finances.

The group also criticised the University of Ghana Students' Representative Council (UGSRC) and the Graduate Students Association of Ghana, University of Ghana (GRASAG-UG), for what it described as their failure to visibly support the demonstration.

According to the EFL, the two student representative bodies distanced themselves from the march, citing the organisers' registration status and cautioning students about the Public Order Act.

Although the bodies had acknowledged the financial burden of accommodation costs and ongoing negotiations with university management, the EFL said student leadership must go beyond expressing sympathy for aggrieved students.

It maintained that student representatives had a responsibility to defend the interests and rights of their constituents, particularly when those rights were being challenged.

The group further raised concerns about what it described as a climate of fear and victimisation that was discouraging students from participating openly in demonstrations and other forms of collective action.

Drawing on its engagement with more than 10,000 students through its platform, the EFL said there was considerable support for the campaign against the accommodation increases, although many students were reluctant to demonstrate publicly.

It attributed the reluctance to what it described as weakened student organising networks and fears of disciplinary action, surveillance and possible retaliation by university authorities and the state.

The EFL argued that academic freedom should not be confined to the rights of lecturers to teach, research and publish, but should also protect students' ability to organise, assemble, express dissent and participate in decisions affecting their university experience.

It cited student activism at universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Yale and Columbia, where demonstrations over Palestine, government policies and other public issues had formed part of campus life.

The group said such demonstrations did not undermine the reputation of those institutions but rather contributed to their intellectual culture and traditions of debate.

It expressed concern that students in Ghana's leading universities increasingly felt unable to exercise similar freedoms, citing what it described as restrictions on student organising, disruptions to established student networks, limitations on hall celebrations and activities, and measures discouraging large gatherings.

The EFL also called for a review of the university's In-Out-Out-Out system, arguing that its implications should be assessed beyond administrative considerations to include its effects on student solidarity, participation and freedom of association.

"A university should cultivate independent thinkers, not compliant subjects. It should encourage students to question power, not condition them to fear it," the statement said.

The group said the Legon demonstration went beyond the immediate dispute over hostel fees, describing it as part of a wider struggle against the privatisation and commercialisation of university life and the erosion of students' democratic rights.

It commended students who participated in the protest, those who supported the action in other ways and individuals who continued to organise despite what it described as the risks they perceived.

The EFL called on students across the country's universities to defend their rights to organise, assemble and speak out.

It also urged university authorities to end practices it said intimidated students and undermined collective action, while challenging student representative bodies to reclaim their responsibility to defend the interests of those they represented.

The statement concluded that academic freedom could not be fully realised if students were afraid to express dissent or organise around issues affecting their welfare.

"A university without student activism is not a university at its best," it said.