Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and Bryan Acheampong
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has responded to claims made by the Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, regarding his hotel, Rock City Hotel Limited. Ablakwa alleged that Rock City Hotel Limited had incurred losses, yet shares of profitable hotels owned by SSNIT were being sold to it.
In an interview with TV3 at parliament on Wednesday, June 19, 2024, Bryan Acheampong firmly refuted Ablakwa's assertion that Rock City had posted losses in 2023.
The minister, who also serves as the MP for Abetifi, stated that his hotel had generated a profit in 2022 and had not yet filed its tax returns for 2023. Therefore, he questioned how the North Tongu legislator could have obtained documents from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) that supposedly indicated Rock City's losses.
He challenged Ablakwa to release the GRA document he claimed to have intercepted, which allegedly showed that Rock City had incurred losses in 2023.
"Rock City is not experiencing losses. Okudzeto asserted on TV that Rock City was facing losses and that he had obtained GRA documents to prove this. Nana Yaa, he has not acquired any documents. His claims are false.
Rock City has not yet submitted its 2023 taxes; they are due by the end of June. So, where did Okudzeto get these documents from? There is no such information at the GRA; everything he stated was inaccurate," Acheampong stated in the Twi dialect.
The minister continued, "In 2022, Rock City did not suffer losses. Despite this, he confidently claimed to have intercepted documents, providing a serial number, file number, and the name of an individual. All his statements were untrue; Rock City has not even filed their 2023 taxes, which are due by the end of June. I challenge him to produce the documents."
What Ablakwa said:
The North Tongu legislator, who has been leading a crusade to stop the state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) from sharing 60% of the shares of four of its hotels, including the Labadi Beach Hotel, refuted the assertion that the hotels are being sold to Acheampong because of his expertise in hotel management.
He made the point that the hotels being sold to the minister have been making profits, while the Rock City Hotel has been posting losses; adding that it should be SSNIT who should be rescuing Bryan Acheampong's hotel and not the other way around.
"It is not about anybody coming to save these hotels. If that person had the magic wand and was the saviour, he would have saved his hotel, which is making losses. While Labadi Beach Hotel and Ridge Royal are making profits, according to the GRA filings, Rock City has made losses and continues to make losses.
"Last year, Rock City made a loss; they didn't pay any tax. This tells you that this cannot be about somebody with expertise in making profits or transforming hotels. This is just pure state capture. It is a classic state capture," he stated.
Watch Bryan Acheampong's remarks below:
“I dare Okudzeto to bring out the documents he claims to have intercepted from GRA” - Hon. Bryan Acheampong responds to the claims made by Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa against Rock City.#TV3GH pic.twitter.com/Sd8W4Qv3YX
— #TV3GH (@tv3_ghana) June 19, 2024
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