A housing intervention announced by President John Dramani Mahama this week as a new initiative has been revealed to be a repackaged version of the National Rental Assistance Scheme (NRAS) launched by former Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in 2023.

President Mahama, speaking at the maiden National Conference on Housing Finance in Accra on October 7, announced his government's plan to introduce an "Easy Rent" programme to support workers by paying their rent advance for them to repay through monthly instalments.

But checks indicate the policy already exists and is operational under the NRAS which was championed by the Dr. Bawumia.

The Original Policy

The National Rental Assistance Scheme was officially launched by Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia on January 31, 2023, to tackle Ghana's long-standing rent advance crisis where landlords demand up to two years rent in advance.

The scheme was designed to make rental housing more accessible, affordable and convenient by removing the burden of lump-sum rent advance payments, particularly for the youth and lower-income households.

Under its framework, any Ghanaian aged 18 and above with a valid Ghana Card and verifiable regular income, whether in the formal or informal sector, qualifies for a rent loan within five to ten working days and the loan is paid directly into the bank account of the landlord while the beneficiary repays in agreed monthly instalments.

Following the launch of the NRAS, the Akufo-Addo government committed GH¢30 million as seed funding for the scheme and commenced its rollout in six regions namely the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Eastern, Bono East and Northern where data showed renters faced the greatest difficulty.

Contrary to suggestions that the rent assistance idea is new, official records show the NRAS was implemented and disbursed funds to beneficiaries.

In November 2023, the then Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye, told Parliament that between January and October 2023, the scheme had disbursed GH¢13,785,591 to 1,105 Ghanaians across the six regions.

"Since the scheme was launched in January 2023 to October 2023, a total of 1,105 Ghanaians from six operational regions that is Greater Accra, Eastern, Western, Ashanti, Northern and Bono East regions have benefitted from the scheme," the Minister said on the floor of the House.

The Scheme remains active and official government portal, http://www.nras.gov.gh, is still operational and inviting applications.

On its website, the NRAS states: "Our singular objective is to make renting in Ghana more affordable and accessible for all Ghanaian renters without any equivocation."

Rebranding, Not Reform

A comparison of the two programmes, following President Mahama's address yesterday, shows no difference in concept, target group or mode of implementation.

Both target Ghanaian workers with regular income and both seek to eliminate the 2-year rent advance burden as well as both paying directly to landlords and both are repaid monthly.

The only noticeable change is the name from "National Rental Assistance Scheme" launched by Dr. Bawumia in 2023 to the proposed "Easy Rent" by President Mahama.

The development has raised questions about policy plagiarism as what the government is seeking today is exactly what was launched in 2023 by the previous government.