Joe Ghartey and A-G Godfred Dame
Lawyer Ralph Agyapong, a member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has averred that aside from politicisation, there is no grounds to defend the processes of a top government appointee seeking to buy shares in government-run hotels.
Ralph, a brother of Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong, was reacting to the recent issues around the planned divestiture of hotels belonging to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
SSNIT's decision to offload its shares in four hotels to Rock City Hotels Limited, an entity owned by the agriculture minister, Bryan Acheampong, has dominated news headlines this week.
While delivering a legal masterclass on an Accra-based radio station on the impropriety of the deal which has yet to be concluded, he tasked NPP communicators to desist from defending the pending sale.
"At Registrar General, he (Bryan) is a director and even though he doesn't take part in day-to-day operations... so far as your name remains at Registrar General as a director, the law perceives you as same.
"So the court will always hold you accountable in the case of any breach on the part of the company. As far as he is a director at the Registrar General, he remains a directing mind of the company. Simplicita!" he explained.
He emphasised that the NPP had bright brains in Company Law, citing former Railways Minister Joe Ghartey and the current Attorney General Godfred Dame, who should be educating the party's communicators on why the deal is not ideal.
"The argument that the person is not part of the hotel management on a day-to-day basis is neither here nor there in law, let us speak law.
"He should have gone to amend his filings (at the Registrar General's Department). Indeed, you have people like Joe Ghartey and the current Attorney-General who are strong in Company Law. They should be advising NPP communicators on some of these things," Ralph stressed.
According to Ralph, to the extent that Acheampong remained a director of Rock City Hotels Limited, it was legally problematic to seek to buy the said shares with him remaining a director of the company and minister at the same time.
He stressed that beyond the politicization of the issues, the matters of conflict of interest had grounds because they needed not to be real but could be perceived.
"Joe Ghartey and Godfred Dame are well versed in these basic company law issues and they should be educating NPP communicators," he stressed in an interview on Okay FM on May 23.
TWI NEWS
Documents reviewed by GhanaWeb show that the minister remains a director of Rock City even though he explains that he has no direct role in the day-to-day management of the business.
The SSNIT-Rock City saga was first published by North Tongu MP, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa who alleged instances of conflict of interest and undervaluation among other infractions.
SSNIT has insisted the transaction was above board and the minister has insisted that nothing untoward was occasioned.
