Hands off our Hotels Demo: Here are the 15 demands in the petition

Member of Parliament (MP) for the North Tongu constituency, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, led hundreds of protestors to present a petition to the Presidency during the ‘Hands off our hotels’ demo on Tuesday, June 18.

This was after the protestors were blocked by police from reaching the Jubilee House.

The demonstrators marched from the Labadi Beach Hotel to Christ the King Parish at Cantonments to express their disgust and to pressure the government to halt the proposed sale of a 60% stake in four prominent hotels owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to Rock City Hotel.

The Rock City Hotel is owned by Minister for Food and Agriculture Bryan Acheampong.

Prior to the acceptance of the petition, there was some confrontation between the agitated protestors and the police as they insisted on proceeding to the Jubilee House.

Moments after that, calm was restored as Mr Ablakwa gave a copy of the petition to a representative from the Jubilee House.

Here are the demands:

1. We call on President Akufo-Addo to immediately stop the sale of our SSNIT hotels.
2. We take the view that state assets not be sold especially profitable ones.
3. The government should not sell public properties without the permission and concern of workers and all Ghanaians.
4. It is wrong, immoral and unethical for ministers and government officials to buy state assets.
5. A loss making Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City hotel according to the Ghana Revenue Authority findings should under no circumstance be allowed to purchase our state hotels particularly profitable ones.
6. Labadi Beach Hotel posted profit of GH158 million in 2023, paid dividends to the government of GH25 million and cash reserves of GH58 million in 5 bank accounts, so this cannot be a struggling hotel.
7. We are appealing to the President to instruct the Blay family to stop the illegal encroachment of Labadi’s beach hotel beachfront. They should also stop issuing threats and just listen to the concerns of Ghanaians.
8. The Blay brothers should be made to respect the initial joint venture agreement with Labadi beach hotel and compensate Labadi beach hotel for the financial losses their conduct has occassioned.
9. State assets should not be deliberately run down so that politicians will successfully sell them to themselves.
10. Honourable Bryan Acheampong and political exposed persons should never be allowed to buy state assets.
11. It must be understood that state assets are for all Ghanaians, not a few greedy unpatroitic Ghanaians.
12. If our SSNIT hotels are good for for Byran Acheampong and Bray brothes, then they must be good for all Ghanaians.
13. The government must explain to Ghanaians why the so called saviours of struggling SSNIT investments are not inyerested in saving real massive loss making entities such as STC.
14. President Akufo-Addo should promptly dismiss appointees within his cabinet and those on the SSNIT board and SSNIT management for engaging in this scandalous transaction which violate multiply laws and does not guarantee value for money.
15. We call on President Akufo-Addo to commit to assenting to our private members bills banning all politicians and politically exposed persons in buying state assets when Parliament concludes the bill and forwards same to his office.

By Will Agyapong || The Ghana Report