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The Ghana Hoteliers Association has announced that it will look into threats made by certain hoteliers to sue the Local Organising Committee (LOC) and the Ministry of Youth and Sports for not paying some members 80 percent of the money they owed them after they hosted guests for the 13th African Games in Accra.
The hoteliers claim that despite only getting 20% of the total agreed upon, their continuous attempts to get the remaining balance from the Ministry have been unsuccessful.
The Hoteliers Association’s president, Dr. Edward Ackah-Nyameke, discussed his worries on the matter in an interview with Citi News on Sunday.
He asked the government to take steps to ensure that it pays the organizations it contracts with for services in full.
“The games were organised in March and we are way into July and my briefing is that these rates were negotiated far even before the games started. So one would expect that these were factored into the budgeting for the all-African games and provisions would have been made for payment right after the games.
“As the story has been reported, only 20% upfront payment has been made and 80% is still outstanding. I don’t know whether there are more hotels than the 40 that have been reported. Is it possible that other hotels are also in the same situation.
“We would have to take the issue on because these are members of the industry. I am not too sure how many of them are members of the Association but be that as it may, anything that affects hotels has implications for the industry so we will begin some enquiries into the matter and advocate for the prompt payment of these outstanding arrears.”
Dr Ackah-Nyameke stated “I need to draw your attention to the fact that this is an issue that continues to confront the industry. To the extent that some hotels have decided not to even deal with public agencies because of issues like this. So this is not something new. It is something that has been going on. And I think we would have to find a way to address it and I do hope that with this story coming up, the agencies will see to their financial responsibilities to the hotels”
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
