Over 40 hoteliers have threatened to sue the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) for failing to pay their dues after hosting visitors who participated in the 13th African Games.

The hoteliers claim that after the Ministry of Youth and Sports paid them just 20 per cent of the promised amount, persistent efforts to get the Ministry to pay the balance have proved futile.

Over 13,000 participants, including 5,000 athletes, 3,000 technical officials, 3,000 volunteers, and 2,000 guests from 54 African countries, took part in the 13th African Games this year. Many of these guests were hosted in hotels located in the capital, Accra.

According to a report by 3news.com, the LOC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, negotiated the rates prior to the games. The report says the Ministry subsequently paid just 20 percent upfront, with the agreement that the remaining 80 percent would be paid immediately after the games.

However, the games ended on March 23, and the Ministry has still not settled its debt.

“We fed them for 21 days and 21 nights during the three weeks they stayed. Some of us have 30 rooms, others have 40 rooms, and they booked all. They promised us that they would pay the balance before the visitors left, but they did not. On the last day, we even wanted to lock them in, but we thought about the bad image it would give Ghana,” a hotelier is quoted by 3 News to have said.

Another hotelier also expressed disappointment at the turn of events.

“We have been to the ministries and the LOC several times, and the accountant keeps giving us excuses that they are doing auditing. For how long are they going to do the auditing when we have clients to settle? We credited the food items to feed them, the toiletries, etc. We credited a lot of items, so the suppliers are also after their money.”

“We are prepared to sue both the Ministry and the LOC to unlock our money,” the hotelier added.

Meanwhile, the ministry according to the report has indicated that it will soon issue a statement to clarify issues surrounding the payment.

ga/ek