The Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a convener of the ‘Hands Off Our Hotels’, has asked President Akufo-Addo to immediately halt the transaction by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to sell 60% shares of four of its hotels to Rock City Hotel, owned by Bryan Acheampong.
Addressing a press conference today, Monday, June 17, 2024, Mr. Ablakwa opined that selling state properties to government officials is an abuse of power.
He said that a key demand in their petition to President Akufo-Addo during Tuesday’s protest was for him to immediately halt the sale to Bryan Acheampong.
“We insist that President Akufo-Addo must immediately stop the sale of our SSNIT hotels. We want an immediate declaration from the president because since we started, all he has done is tell Organised Labour to go and meet the Employment Minister at which meeting, Organised Labour told us that they tried to convince them to allow the sale, so clearly, the president and his appointees don’t want to stop the sale, and we are going to insist that they back out.
“We are also demanding that state assets should no longer be sold, particularly the profitable ones.”
On her part, the Public Relations Officer of the Trades Union Congress, Naa Ayele Ardayfio Sekyere, declared support for the demonstration.
“This is a national call and it is exciting that our MPs are leading this. Let’s look at it how is it that every now and again, we have issues with SSNIT? You can’t do the same thing for so many times and expect different results, we are just not making progress as far as SSNIT is concerned.
“This is a national call for us, and we must all be interested because I don’t want to work for over 40 years and go on retirement as a pauper so this is a call for all of us. Not just Hands Off Our Hotels but all those lands that are being sold.”
The organizers of the demonstration will hit the street tomorrow, Tuesday, June 18, 2024, to protest the sale of a 60% stake in six hotels owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
Source: rainbowradioonline.com
