Former Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Sophia Akufo, has accused the management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) of deliberately vandalising the hotel in order to reduce its value which they wanted to sell and ultimately distribute among themselves.
She said this is what is happening in many government institutions in Ghana.
She was commenting on the justification given earlier by SSNIT management for its move to sell its 60 per cent stake in the four hotels.
It could be recalled that at a press conference on Monday, July 8, the Executive Secretary of SSNIT, Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo, maintained that all hotels listed for sale were consistently incurring losses.
He said most of the hotels were not paying dividends and the only option to revive them was to sell them.
“I don’t think anybody running an investment fund around the world is sitting on low returns. We have to address this issue,” he explained.
But Mrs. Sophia Akufo, in an exclusive interview with TV3’s Alfred Okansei on Thursday, July 25, said, “Of course SSNIT will justify it because they have been letting the hotels go to waste. As in the public sector, many public facilities are allowed to go to waste to reduce their value and they always make sweet deals at the end of some cycle and do this distribution amongst themselves. SSNIT may say I have tarnished their reputation but I don’t care.”
She also commended the union for vehemently opposing the sale of the hotel to Agriculture Minister Brian Acheapong.
“God bless the union,” she said.
When Okunji was asked if she was upset about the failed deal, she replied, “Obviously, a conflict of interest is a conflict of interest, so you can’t be judge and jury, you can’t be lawyer and judge, you can’t be a party to a lawsuit. Once the evidence and everything has been presented and the lawyers have presented their arguments and it’s time for a verdict, then I would like to sit as a juror and be a part of that.”
When told that the Agriculture Minister did not believe there was a conflict of interest situation in the case, Minister Sophia Akufo said: “Conflict of interest is not defined by an individual. If you are managing standards, conflict of interest may be part of the performance standard. If you are managing ethical standards, it may just be a perception. If you told this to any common man of common sense, what would he say? If we can infer here that they would say it stinks, then it stinks. If you are a public figure, just because there is no law that says you should not do it does not mean that you should do it. It also says in the Bible, I can do all things but not all things are good.”
SSNIT has announced that it will call off the sale of its 60% stake in four hotels after several labour unions announced their decision to go on a nationwide strike following the National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA) approval of SSNIT’s sale of its 60% stake in the four hotels.
Why are you still in your job if you can’t turn around the fortunes of the hotel? – Ablakwa asks SSNIT boss
A statement released by SSNIT on Friday, July 12, announced the completion of the controversial hotel share sale.
“The Board and management of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) wish to inform the public that the process of divestment of SSNIT’s 60 per cent stake in the hotel has been concluded,” SSNIT chairperson Elizabeth Akua Ohene said in a statement.
SSNIT assured pensioners and contributors that it would manage the affairs of the trust “prudently” for the sustainability of the pension scheme.
background
A few weeks ago, it emerged that Rock City Hotels, owned by Agriculture Minister Brian Acheapong, was the only investor to satisfy the bidding process to purchase 60% stake in SSNIT’s four hotels.
The news of the sale of 60% stakes in the four hotels sparked outrage from all quarters of the public.
In its defence, SSNIT argued that the process to sell its 60% stake in the hotel began in 2018 and is in the final stages, and that Rock City Hotel has met all the requirements to purchase the 60% stake.
The four hotels that were up for sale were constantly losing money and SSNIT did not have the funds to rebuild them, which is why they had to be put up for sale.
When the issue came to light, North Tongu Member of Parliament Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa vehemently opposed the tender, saying government officials could not “plunder and share” national assets.
He also organised demonstrations to protest the sale of SSNIT hotels.Various labour unions also opposed the move and the NPRA on June 28 directed SSNIT to suspend negotiations on the sale of Rock City and the four hotels to allow for further evaluation and negotiations.
However, responding to questions at a plenary session of Parliament on Thursday, July 11, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, confirmed that the NPRA had approved the sale of the hotel because the authority was satisfied that SSNIT had observed all due procedures.
He said the directive from NPRA was to ensure that SSNIT complied with all procedures and documentation, and was not to completely stop SSNIT from selling the hotel.
“Yes, it is true that the NPRA issued a directive but I would appreciate it if my brothers and colleagues would actually read the NPRA directive because the directive says that all information regarding the sale of the hotel must be provided and SSNIT has subsequently done so.
“So there was no direct instruction that SSNIT should not do anything, but only if the NPRA, who is the regulator in this sector, actually checks all the documents and processes and certifies that they are OK, then SSNIT will go ahead.
“Yes, as minister, I can tell you on authority that the NPRA has subsequently reviewed the process and expressed the view that SSNIT can go ahead.”
The revelations prompted several labour unions to take action declaring a nationwide strike, after which SSNIT called off the controversial sale of 60 per cent of its shares in the four hotels.
