The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, has vowed to gift Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a house and a hotel if he substantiates his claims that Rock City Hotel is incurring losses.
Acheampong’s challenge comes in response to Ablakwa’s allegations regarding the financial health of Rock City Hotel.
The allegations made by Ablakwa suggest that documents intercepted from the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) indicate that Rock City Hotel Limited, a company owned by the Agric Minister and MP for Abetifi, is running at a loss, and hence, unfit to buy the lucrative and profit-making SSNIT hotels.
“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,” Acheampong declared.
“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, and if he wants to also gift it to an NGO, on his orders, I’ll make that happen, all Ghanaians be my witness,” he said to Nana Yaa Brefo, host of Yen Nsempa on Onua FM Thursday, June 20, 2024.
In addition to the house, Acheampong offered another significant incentive that if Ablakwa “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.”
Defending Rock City’s financial status, Acheampong detailed the hotel’s impressive scale and ongoing expansion.
“If one counts the number of hotels in Greater Accra, like Kempinski with 269 rooms, Mövenpick with 260 rooms, Labadi and Holiday Inn with 160 rooms, and even Fiesta Royale Hotel, they don’t compare to Rock City’s capacity. Rock City has about 1,000 rooms now, and we are building about 3,000 more and we pay our taxes,” he asserted.
Rock City Hotel, according to Acheampong, is poised to become the largest hotel in Africa and no effort to derail that ambition will be fruitful.
“We are taking the brand international, and he cannot bring it down. What Rock City Hotel is seeking to do, he cannot stop it,” he reemphasised.
The Abetifi lawmaker further expressed frustration over Ablakwa’s allegations, describing them as baseless and politically motivated.
“He glares his eyes to say wild things. All his allegations against me are lies. I don’t have any problems with him doing his politics, but I will not encourage his lies,” Acheampong said, adding that “as an honourable man, to go on TV and say some things is quite annoying.”
Content by: Lois Dogbe
