Sale of SSNIT Hotels: Ablakwa should’ve waited for CHRAJ’s probe before protest — Ahiagbah

The National Communications Director of the ruling NPP, Richard Ahiagbah, has said Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, should have waited for the conclusion of the probe by the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) before organizing a protest over the sale of SSNIT hotels.

In a post on social media on Tuesday, June 18, Ahiagbah wrote that while the right to demonstrate is an important democratic principle, Ablakwa should have allowed the process he triggered at CHRAJ to be completed first “before resorting to a demonstration.”

He added that “Doing so would have minimized the political motive of his pursuit.”

Ablakwa petitioned CHRAJ to investigate the sale of SSNIT hotels to the company of the Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, over allegations of conflict of interest.

However, Ahiagbah said “The crux of the matter is the ability of SSNIT or any state institution to fulfill its mandate independently” and noted that Ablakwa's concern was that “SSNIT, as an independent institution, should not be allowed to pursue the outcome of the procurement process to offload its shares in the stated hotels because Rock City, which belongs to Bryan Acheampong, won the bid.”

According to the ruling party’s spokesperson, “From the records SSNIT has put out so far, the processes leading to the settlement on Rock City have been above board."

He questioned whether Ablakwa “would have accepted that outcome?” if another company had won the bid instead of Rock City.

Ahiagbah believes “there is no reason why we should condone the disruption being propagated by Hon. Okudzeto Ablakwa.”