The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has justified its decision to sell 60 per cent stake in several of its hotels to Rock City Hotels Limited, owned by Minister of Food and Agriculture and Abetifi Member of Parliament Brian Acheapong.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, July 8, the Executive Secretary of SSNIT, Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo, maintained that all the hotels up for sale were consistently incurring losses.
He said most of the hotels do not pay dividends and the only option to revive them is to sell them.
“I don’t think anybody running an investment fund around the world is sitting on poor returns. We have to address this issue,” he explained.
“These hotels are capital intensive businesses and require ongoing capital expenditure. SSNIT does not have the necessary funds for this. These businesses are consistently incurring losses,” he added.
According to him, they sought out a strategic investor to salvage the situation after all other avenues to resolve the issue had failed.
“To that end, we have been going through a lengthy process and have also tried to outsource the running of SSNIT Hotel to an external management company but that has not resolved the issue.
“So we look at this from two perspectives. One is that we want to solve the problem by bringing in a strategic investor and we’ve outlined the reasons there.”
Osafo-Marfo also said SSNIT had not breached any procurement laws as due process was followed during the tender process.
He therefore believes that SSNIT’s move to sell its shares was a financially sound decision for the company.
Sale of SSNIT Hotel: Your son’s bid was not opened – Osafo Marfo to Freddie Blay
Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo also denied the allegations made by the former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Freddie Blay said SSNIT had rejected a $200 million bid by his son’s company. The company will acquire 60% of the hotel’s shares.
Osafo-Maafo said Spartan Ives’ proposal had failed to get past the first stage of the bidding process, but that a decision to sell its 60 percent stake remained pending.
The trust said it had ceased negotiations following instructions from the National Pensions Regulator.
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