Former NPP National Chairman Freddie Blay has given Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, and TV3’s Johnnie Hughes and management a week to retract and apologize for what he claims are untrue and unjustified accusations made against him and his family.
“My children have legitimately acquired certain portions of the beach front from the La Council, and where they are operating doesn’t belong to the management of Labadi Beach Hotel,” declares the GNPC Board Chair, furious over claims that his family was involved in state capture.
Mr. Blay accuses the North Tongu MP of engaging in “cheap propaganda to court public opprobrium against my sons.”
Following Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa’s allegations of a state capture plot by senior NPP officials, the beachfront of the Labadi Beach Hotel, a well-liked entertainment destination, has come under fire. The beachfront, which is normally a part of the Labadi Beach Hotel, is allegedly owned by the son of the former NPP Chairman, according to Ablakwa.
According to Mr. Ablakwa, the Labadi Beach Hotel’s board and administration are powerless as a result of influential and politically exposed individuals engaging in unclear encroachment, making the hotel the only beachfront hotel in the world without exclusive authority over its whole coastline.
In response to these claims, Mr. Blay stated that the reason talks between his children and the Beach management didn’t work out was because the hotel demanded more money. As such, his sons made contact with La Council in order to purchase the beachfront for their business.
“If the hotel considers that somebody has taken its lands, the courts are there; they should go to court. I have seen correspondence that tried to negotiate for them to work together, but it never worked—so nobody has taken anybody’s land, definitely not my children. They are not involved in any state capture. The impression made by Okudzeto Ablakwa and some pressmen, like Johnnie Hughes and TV3 management, suggesting those doing legitimate business are engaged in illegality is unfortunate.”
“I feel very defamed,” Mr. Blay said, offering TV3, Johnnie Hughes, and the North Tongu MP a week to retract their charges of state capture. The Labadi Beach Hotel is not where my children work.
It is terrible that Ablakwa and Johnnie are portraying it as though I have taken the lands, leading others to refer to me as a thief, even though it is not their property. He threatened to go to court if Okudzeto Ablakwa and TV3 management, which includes Johnnie Hughes, did not apologise to him and his family within a week.