The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has hit back at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) for defending its decision to sell off a 60% stake in its hotels to Bryan Acheampong.
According to Mr Ablakwa, SSNIT’s reason for picking the Minister for Agriculture over other competitors is worrying, adding that the reasons provided by SSNIT are full of inconsistencies.
In his petition, Mr Ablakwa contends that documents in his possession indicate that SSNIT is on the verge of selling a majority 60% stake in six of its hotels to Rock City Hotel Limited, a company reportedly owned by Bryan Acheampong, the Minister for Food and Agriculture.
The hotels under scrutiny in the petition include Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, Busua Beach Resort, and the Trust Lodge Hotel.
According to Mr Ablakwa, the sale of SSNIT’s shares in the hotels lacks due process and violates procurement procedures.
He is therefore asking CHRAJ to stop the sale of the hotels to the Abetifi MP.
However, SSNIT in response explained that based on its criteria set out for the sale, Rock City Hotel Limited submitted the best and strongest technical and financial proposal among the bids received.
SSNIT further clarified that the bids were successful for only four hotels and not the entire six as claimed by the North Tongu MP.
Responding to SSNIT’s statement, Mr Ablakwa said the explanations do not address the question of how Mr Acheampong’s hotel won the bid.
“If you look at the statement SSNIT has put out, they do not respond to the fundamental issues. The crust of the matter is totally avoided. I have raised a fundamental issue of conflict of interest.
“The Honorable Bryan Acheampong should have been nowhere near this transaction. SSNIT has not addressed that fundamental issue.
“You cannot just claim that Rock City presented the best financial and technical proposal. Where is the evidence? SSNIT does not provide the evidence” he argued.
He continued “If you look at their own statement, they say that they started this procurement process on 14th November 2018. Rock City started its operation, a year after, November 2019.”
Mr Ablakwa called on CHRAJ to act expeditiously and halt the deal because, without his intelligence, the deal would have been closed this week.