Minister defied President’s directive to give hotels free water - Dr. Ackah

The President of the Hotels Association of Ghana Dr. Edward Ackah -Nyamikeh has disclosed a directive issued by President Akufo Addo to the then Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Barbara Oteng-Gyasi for the hotels to enjoy free water was defied.

The government in the heat of the pandemic initiated the free water delivery to homes. The government absorbed bills for the next three months, namely; April, May and June. All water tankers, publicly and privately owned also helped to ensure the supply of water to vulnerable communities.

Speaking to Alfred Ocansey on the 3FM, Sunrise Morning Show on Monday, Dr. Ackah Nyamikeh described the government’s action as an epitome of unfairness.

“When we talk about unfairness I think government is an epitome of unfairness. You remember this water saga when the President announced that water should be free for all Ghanaians and the ministry decided to limit it to domestic users the President [ Nana Addo] and he was even surprised that his ministers had done otherwise he instructed the ministers to work on it , it never happened.”

“We didn’t really benefited from this NBSSI thing that 10% was a sham now this budget is saying that we should contribute 1% extra on NHIL”.

According to him the National Board Small Scale Industries, NBSSI 10% disbursements was not enough to even take care of toilet rolls used by hotels stressing the hoteliers were looking for distress relief funds to save their businesses.

The 2021 budget witnessed the introduction of new levies and taxes namely; COVID 19 Health Levy, Road toll increased, sanitation levy and VAT flat Rate increased to 4%.

Energy Sector Levy was also increased to 5.5% whiles the Financial Sector Clean up levy also saw some 1 5% increase.

The hoteliers have since vowed they would pass on the burden to consumers.