The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has begun discussions with labour unions to resolve the controversial sale of some hotels owned by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to local hotel operator Rock City Hotels.
At press time yesterday, the minister, who also handles pension issues, was due to negotiate with the unions, who have vowed to pursue the issue by all legal means, including industrial action.
President Nana Akufo-Addo recently addressed concerns from labour unions over the sale of 60% of SSNIT’s shares in four hotels to Rock City Hotels, owned by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Brian Acheapong.
The President then instructed the Minister of Employment and Labour to hold discussions with the trade unions on the issue following a petition from the unions calling for the sale of the hotel to be halted.
Speaking to media, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) confirmed the president’s instructions, saying: “We have written to the president saying he needs to negotiate on this.” [sale of the SSNIT hotels]and he passed it on to the minister and told him to start signing with us.”
meeting
Present at yesterday’s meeting were the Secretary General of the TUC, Dr Anthony Yaw Bah, Secretary General of the Council of Ghana Civil Service and Local Government Officers (CLOGSAG), Dr Isaac Bampoe Addo and Secretary General of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Thomas Musa.
Others included representatives of the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Director-General of SSNIT, Mr Kofi Osafo-Marfo, senior and technical staff of ministries.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Baffour Awuah said this was part of a fact-finding exercise with SSNIT and workers to help understand their perspective on the issue. He said consultations with other stakeholders would continue and report the findings to Cabinet at a later date.
“I don’t want to go into the finer points of what was discussed here. Most importantly, I want to use your media to let the public know that we are not turning a blind eye to this issue.”
“I have already met with the SSNIT management, the NPRA board and we are still in discussions. The workers are the third stakeholder I have met with,” Baffour Awuah said.On a timeline, the minister did not give any specifics other than to say “what needs to be done must be done well.”
Public Attention
The issue of the hotel sale was brought to public attention by the Member of Parliament representing North Tongu, Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who subsequently petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate various allegations including conflict of interest, abuse of power, lack of due process, procurement violations, nepotism and corruption.
reaction
In response, the SSNIT management explained that according to the criteria set out in the Request for Proposal (RFP), Rock City Hotels Limited submitted the best and strongest technical and financial proposal among all the bids received.
According to the Foundation, the process began in 2018 and is in the final stages and is yet to be completed. “The Foundation commenced the process with the employment of a transaction advisor through the ICT procurement modality and placed an advertisement in the Daily Graphic on November 14, 2018 and in the Ghanaian Times on November 15, 2018.”
“The advertisement also appeared in the 5th to 11th January 2019 edition of the international magazine The Economist,” it said. However, it clarified that only four hotels were being sold, and not six as claimed by Mr Ablakwa.
These are Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel and Elmina Beach Resort, it added, adding that the bids of Busua Beach Resort and Trust Lodge were deemed unsuccessful and therefore were removed from the bidding process.
The management said Ablakwa had asked CHRAJ to conduct a full investigation into the sale of the hotel and therefore would not comment further in light of the upcoming investigation by CHRAJ.
The company said its management will fully cooperate with CHRAJ in the investigation process.