Private legal practitioner and anti-corruption campaigner, Martin Kpebu has condemned the current administration for what he perceives as widespread corruption.
According to him, the public’s trust in the government has been eroded due to frequent reports of dubious transactions and conflicts of interest.
His comments come after the NDC MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to stop SSNIT’s 60% sale of four hotels to Rock City, which has Mr Brian Acheampong, a Minister of state and an MP as one of the two directors.
Mr Ablakwa, in his petition, alleged that documents he has intercepted show that negotiations to sell 60% of the shares of the six SSNIT hotels to the minister’s Rock City Hotel Limited “are far advanced.”
He is seeking an investigation into various allegations, including conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement breaches, cronyism, and graft.
The hotels under scrutiny in the petition include Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, Busua Beach Resort, and the Trust Lodge Hotel.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM show on Tuesday, Mr Kpebu said, “because this administration happens to be very corrupt, as soon as we see the government selling something to a minister, then immediately your mind comes to the same crime. This is also another corrupt deal”he noted.
“It is unfortunate, but it is because the government has allowed corruption to fester, so we can only think that it is corruption because it is all about their self-interest, from the president to the ministers, etc. So that is the starting point. It cannot sit well with me because of the way corruption is going up and up, and you know the figures support it. President Akufo-Addo performed his best mark of 43, and that was the lowest mark in the JM administration”.
He asked the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to provide the documents to justify the sale of its shares.
“Can we see the documents?”. SSNIT should publish it so that we can read it and interrogate it. But SSNIT should have known that this transaction would leak, and so they should have been proactive by making all these kinds of documents available.
“You see the statement that TUC issued; they make it clear that at the SSNIT board meeting, their representatives told SSNIT that, no, they are opposed to the sale. So, SSNIT should have known if this was really a good deal. Then they should publish the documents. So, for me, the next step is that if SSNIT can prove it through the documents, then we can look at it. The starting point, as I have said, is that this looks like a corrupt deal,” he noted.
Source : Joynews
