Parliament quietly approves $24m Tax waiver for “President Akufo-Addo’s Hotel”

Reports from the Ghanaian Parliament shows that it has quietly approved the controversial US$24 million tax waiver for a hotel project owned by President Akufo-Addo’s brother-in-law.

The project known as the Pullman Accra City Hotel & Services Apartments to be constructed by Platinum Properties owned by Dr. Kwame Nyantekyi-Owusu was passed in a half-empty Chamber today March 3, 2020, Whatsup News gathered.

The debate on the contentious tax waiver reportedly took place when many opponents of the waiver were not around and was passed after the Speaker of Parliament Prof. Mike Ocquaye casually placed a question for those in favour and against.

The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) courted serious public backlash when reports emerged that  President Akufo Addo’s in-law Dr. Nyantekyi-Owusu was being set up to enjoy a whopping GHC 24 million tax waiver on a US$ 73 million Project.

On Tuesday, January 28, 2020, the Minister of Finance Ken Ofori-Atta presented a Paper to Parliament requesting for waiver of Import Duties, Import VAT, Import NHIL Levy, Import GETFund Levy, Domestic VAT, Domestic NHIL and Domestic GETFund amounting to a whopping US$24 million on a hotel project estimated to cost US $ 73 million.

The tax waiver is for materials and equipment for Platinum Properties Limited owned by Dr. Kwame Nyantekyi-Owusu who is the husband of the junior sister of First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo.

However, critics have cited the proposed waiver as a clear display of nepotism by the Akufo-Addo administration.

For the Minority in Parliament, the Pullman project did not even qualify as the “strategic investor” status used as a basis for demanding the tax waiver.

According to the Minority Spokesperson for Finance, Cassiel Ato-Forson, to qualify for tax waivers as a strategic investor, an equity holder must be pumping up to US$ 50 million into a project in Ghana, however, Dr. Nyantekyi-Owusu, who is incidentally President Akufo-Addo’s brother-in-law is only contributing US$ 18 million in equity instead of the prescribed equity requirement totalling US$ 50 million.

The other equity holder in the Pullman project is the Ghana Infrastructure and Investment Fund (GIIF) which is contributing only US$ 13 million. The entire equity of the so-called strategic investors in the Pullman project are collectively bringing on board US$31.5 million instead of the US$50 million needed to qualify for the tax waivers being pushed through for them.

“The entire equity of US$31.5 m does not meet the minimum requirement of US$50m for a strategic investor status for tax purposes. In fact, Dr. Kwame Nyantekyi-Owusu (sponsor) is contributing only US$ 18.5 m. Clearly, this does not meet the US$ 50m threshold to qualify the equity partners  as strategic investors for tax purposes under the GIPC Act 2013 (ACT 865),” stated Ato-Forson in a letter of complaint sent to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance Committee Mark Assibey-Yeboah on February 13, 2020.

The turn of event in Parliament, Whatsup News gathered was a case of the Majority using their numbers to push through an unpopular request.

The project dubbed the Pullman Accra City Hotel & Services Apartments is a dual-hospitality project being touted as “Ghana’s largest and most distinguished hotel facility”