Co-Chair of the Citizens Movement Against Corruption, Edem Senanu, says that the Minister of Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City Hotel, should not have been considered by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) in the sale of stake in four hotels.

According to him, Mr Acheampong was in a position of power, hence SSNIT describing Rock City's bid as the best among the other nine tenders raises suspicion and a clear conflict of interest.

Speaking on JoyNews' Pulse on May 22, he said “From a purely ethical perspective, once you find that there is a problem, it has to be raised especially where they said it appears that Rock City is the one that has won the bid, they say it is the best proposal."

"Immediately it raises red flags because then the owner on paper is somebody who is in government that automatically comes into a conflict of interest situation,” he said.

He explained that in a conflict of interest, many factors come into play, such as the information Mr Acheampong might have received or not received, which informed the proposal submitted.

“The question, are you sure he did not have an undue advantage in terms of information that then fed into the proposal that was submitted so strictly speaking based on the constitutional provisions, he should have been shortlisted.

"Ideally, even if he wanted to, he should have been conscious of the conflict of interest rules and diverted himself off it. Allow the entity to submit this bill without his name on it at Registrar General or elsewhere,” he added.

Mr Senanu explained that the constitution explicitly states that a public officer ought not to put themselves in a position of potential conflict of interest. He added that this implies that public officers are to identify situations that might create a conflict, and desist.

He stressed that this is the reason why parliamentary rules state that, if an MP wants to engage in private business, they should first consult the Speaker.