The Meridian Hotel at Tema which was one of the defunct State Hotels Corporation’s chain of hotels in the first Republic and until the early 1990’s was a pleasant place for relaxation, is now a messy hideout for all shades of criminals.

Gone are the days when in the late 1960s and 1970s, people took pride in associating themselves with activities at any of the state hotels such as Meridian at Tema, Ambassador, Continental and Star in Accra, the Atlantic in Takoradi and City Hotel in Kumasi.

However, thirty years after those glorious days, all these hotels together with their Umbrella organization, the State Hotel Corporation have collapsed and those that still exist are just skeletons of their former selves through mismanagement.

The sorry story being told about Meridian Hotel now is that the place has become a den for drug pushers, prostitutes, armed robbers and all sorts of hardened criminals.

A visit to the place reveals that the hotel is now being used as a refuse dump and a place of convenience by social misfits, generating foul fumes, an act that is difficult to bear, posing the risk of an outbreak of epidemic.