The Minister of Agriculture and Member of Parliament of Abetifi Constituency, Bryan Acheampong, has emphasized that his company, Rock City Hotel Limited, is a separate entity from him.
He insists he has not engaged in any act of conflict of interest regarding the sale of SSNIT hotels to a company he owes 100 percent shares.
“There is a difference between me as Bryan Acheampong and my company. The company will continue running even in my demise,” he told Nana Kwadwo Jantuah on Kroyi Mu Nsem show on Nhyira FM in Kumasi.
Bryan intimated that his position as a minister has never influenced the procurement processes, nor has he breached any laws.
According to him, the process for the acquisition of the hotels started in 2013 but was called off by SSNIT.
“However, in 2017, SSNIT reiterated the need for investors in the management of their assets. An advertisement was made in 2021 and 2022 which my company participated in the 2022 advertisement in the national dailies. Rock City Company won the bid based on technical, financial and management competency.
“Rock City went through the process in 2021 and 2022. I have never been the CEO of Rock City Company Limited, I am only a shareholder and I wasn’t even a minister when the company started bidding for SSNIT hotels,” said Mr. Acheampong.
He said for the 16 years of the existence of his company, he has never benefited from any government support.
Meanwhile, when quizzed on how the dollar is affecting businesses in Ghana, Mr. Acheampong asserted the dollar has strengthened against all currencies in the world and the cedi is not an exception.
He believes the NPP government has done better in the management of the cedi than the previous regime.
“The cedi is doing well because the dollar has strengthened against almost all currencies in the world, the cedi depreciation has been slower than under the NDC government,” said the Agric Minister.
According to Mr. Acheampong, the major drive of the depreciation of the cedi is more imports than exports. In spite of this challenge, he believes imports have reduced significantly in this regime as a result of the government’s one-district one-factory initiative.