Former National Chairman of the ruling New Patriotic Party, Freddie Blay, has given Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, MP for North Tongu, TV3 management, and Johnnie Hughes a week to retract the accusations made against him and his family, said they are unjustified and unfounded.
The GNPC Board Chair maintains that his children legally purchased a part of the beachfront from the LA Council and that their property is not owned by the Labadi Beach hotel management. He is upset over allegations that his family was involved in a state capture.
He said that the North Tongu MP is spreading false information to stir up public disapproval of his sons.
This is in line with Ablakwa’s allegations that senior NPP officials are running a massive state capture scheme.
The NDC lawmaker charged that parts of the beachfront, which has historically been run by the Labadi Beach Hotel, were acquired by Mr. Freddie Blay, the former National Chairman of the NPP, and his sons.
Mr. Ablakwa further claimed that the Labadi Beach Hotel is now the only beachfront hotel in the world without exclusive ownership of its whole beachfront as a result of this acquisition.
But in response to the accusations, Mr. Blay clarified that there had been preliminary discussions between his sons and the beach’s management before those discussions fell down.
He said that this is what led to his sons formally approaching La Traditional Council to purchase the oceanfront for their business.
Mr. Blay described his sons’ interest in the property as legitimate and questioned why the hotel had not filed a lawsuit to contest his sons’ ownership of the property.
The hotel should move to court if it believes that someone has stolen its property. The courts are available. It has never succeeded to bargain for them to cooperate, so no one has seized anyone’s land—certainly not my children—and they are not connected to any state capture, Mr. Blay said to Oyerepa FM.
“It’s unfortunate that Okudzeto Ablakwa and some pressmen from Johnnie Hughes and TV3 management are giving Ghanaians the impression that legitimate business owners who don’t step on anyone’s toes are breaking the law,” he continued.
But in response to the accusations of state capture, Mr. Blay gave TV3 host Johnnie Hughes and the North Tongu MP a week to make amends.
“I feel really disparaged. The area where my sons are working is not owned by the Labadi Beach Hotel; it is not their property. Regretfully, Ablakwa and Johnnie are fabricating information to make it appear as though I have taken the land, leading others to label me as a robber. I’m going to court if Okudzeto Ablakwa and the TV3 management—including Jonnie Hughes—don’t apologise to my family and me within a week.