Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City Hotels which the Social Security and National Insurance Trust’s (SSNIT) hotels are being sold to, did not have a tax clearance certificate at the time it was bidding for the hotels, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has disclosed.
Per the procurement laws of Ghana, according to the North Tongu Member of Parliament, provision of a tax clearance certificate is so vital in tendering for government businesses.
He explains Rock City first filed for tax returns in 2024 when it had operated since 2021. According to the MP, the firm had earlier indicated that it had to profit to declare after the expose on the purchase of the hotel was made, before it went to change and declare some profits in May 2024.
Meanwhile, the tendering for the purchase was made in February 2022 when Rock City had not filed a tax returns and did not have a tax clearance certificate.
Mr. Ablakwa explained to Alfred Ocansey on the KeyPoints Saturday, June 22, 2024, indicating that Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City did not have the primary document they needed to tender for the purchase of the hotels.
“First, they said they don’t have profits to declare then they went back to change on the same day 23rd May to say that they can declare some GHC383,000.
SSNIT says that after they had selected the transaction advisors, they then advertised, 3rd February 2022, Ghanaian Times, and 7th February 2022, in the Economist and others, to commence the tendering of hotels, the companies who want to bid for SSNIT hotels and point 8 of the media release, a total of 9 companies responded to the media advertisement by submitting their proposals.
“Six out of the 9 were shortlisted and issued with request for proposals. So you see that by the time they were participating in this tendering, they had not filed their taxes so it means that they did not have tax clearance certificate and you know under the procurement laws, when you are tendering for government purchase, tax clearance certificate is so fundamental,” Mr. Ablakwa disclosed.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has been questioned by many on its decision to sell off 60 per cent of its stake in Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Beach Hotel, Ridge Royal Hotel, and Busua Beach Hotel to Agric Minister, Bryan Abbey Acheampong.
The matter came to limelight following a revelation by Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
The disclosure has generated series of debate with many raising issues of conflict of interest, with Mr. Ablakwa adding that the MP did not secure permission from the Speaker to embark on that profitable venture which is against the provisions of Parliament.
On Tuesday, June 18, 2024, Mr. Ablakwa led a “Hands off our Hotels” demo where a petition was presented to the President to halt the sale of the hotels.
Ablakwa has also alleged that Rock City Hotels, owned by Bryan Acheampong, which the hotels are being sold to, are currently incurring losses according to the company’s financial statement he intercepted.
But Bryan Acheampong, who is also the MP for Abetifi, has promised to dash Ablakwa a house at Trassaco and a hotel in North Tongu, if he is able to prove his allegations of the company running at losses.
“If he indeed has documents that prove that Rock City Hotel filed its 2023 taxes and we are making losses, let him bring it forth. If it’s true, I have a house at Trassaco, it’s new and unused. I bought it in 2014, and I will gift it to him,” he told Nana Yaa Brefo Danso, host of Yen Nsempa on Onua FM Thursday, June 20, 2024.
“If he is able to prove that Rock City’s 2023 account is making losses, in fact, in his constituency, North Tongu, there is a hotel owned by Rock City –Akosombo Continental Hotel, –if he is able to prove it, that hotel is for Rock City, and I will give it to him as well. He should prove it,” he added.
In a recent social media post, Mr. Ablakwa has also alleged that a company belonging to the son of Freddie Blay, Spartan-Ives Limited, is among the shortlisted companies to buy a stretch of land near the Labadi Beach Hotels. Mr. Kwaw Blay, has already indicated his decision to sue the MP.
Responding to the sale of the hotels, Mr. Blay, a former Chair of the NPP said he doesn’t understand why Organised Labour is protesting in public when the Board that took the decision included their representative.
He says he would have loved to buy the sixty per cent stake in the four SSNIT hotels being offered the Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, if he had the money.
“If the board says this is the way, irrespective of my individual protest or my disagreement with it, the decision that we have taken is binding on us,” he told 3FM’s Beatrice Adu.
“I would have loved to buy if I had the money because I have a good idea. My son convinced me. I don’t know on what basis they (Organized Labour) have taken their decision. SSNIT took a decision, and I don’t have any questions about that,” the Board Chair of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) said.
