Botched SSNIT hotels deal: They rundown the institutions, do sweet heart deals & distribute among themselves – Sophia Akuffo

A Former Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana Sophia Akuffo has accused the management of Social Security and National Insurance Insurance Trust (SSNIT) of deliberately running down the hotels that it wanted to sell just to reduce their value and in the end, distribute among themselves.

This, she said, has been the story of many state entities in Ghana.

She was commenting on the earlier justification that SSNIT management gave to the move to sell 60 percent stakes in the four hotels.

It is recalled that in a press briefing on Monday, July 8, the Director General of SSNIT, Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo insisted that all the hotels put up for sale had recorded consistent losses.

But Madam Sophia Akuffo told TV3’s Alfred Ocansey in an exclusive interview on Thursday, July 25  that “Of course, SSNIT will justify it because they have run down the hotels and just like in the public sector a lot of public properties have been run down just so that the value will be run down and always at the end of some cycle or the other they do sweet heart deals and do this distribution among themselves. SSNIT can say I have defamed them but I don’t care.”

She further commended labour unions for fiercely opposing the sale of the hotels to Agric Minister Bryan Acheampong.

“God bless the labour unions,” she said.

Asked by Ocansey whether the botched deal irked her? she answered ” Yes of course, because conflict of interest is conflict of interest, you can’t be the judge and the jury, you can’t be the lawyer and the judge, you can’t be the litigant and after you have given your evidence and everything, your lawyer has done his submission and it is time to determine the outcome and now you are going to sit among the jury and you want to be part of that.”

When told that Agric Minister did not think there was a conflict of interest situation in this matter, Madam Sophia Akuffo said “Conflict of interest is not defined by the individual. Sometimes a conflict of interest, when you are managing standards, it is part of the performance standards. When you are managing ethical standards, sometimes it is simply perception. Will a reasonable man in the street, if you were to tell them of this, what will they say about it? If here, you can surmise that they will say it smells, then it smells. When you are a public person just because there is no law that says you cannot do it does not mean you should do it. Even in the Bible, it says I can do all things but not all things are good.”

SSNIT announced its discontinuation of the sale of the 60% shares in the four hotels after several labour unions announced their decision to embark on a nationwide strike following approval by the National Pensions and Regulatory Authority (NPRA) for SSNIT to proceed with the sale of 60% shares in the four hotels.

Why are you still in office if you can’t turn the fortunes of the hotels around? – Ablakwa asks SSNIT Boss

SSNIT assured pensioners and contributors of managing the affairs of the Trust “prudently for the sustainability of the Pension Scheme.”

Background

SSNIT in its defence said the process to sell 60% of its shares in the hotels begun in 2018 and was in its final stage and that Rock City Hotel had met all requirement to purchase the 60% shares.

He further organised a demonstration to protest against the sale of SSNIT Hotels. Various labour unions also spoke against the move which further prompted the NPRA to direct SSNIT on June 28 to suspend its negotiations with Rock City over the sale of four hotels, pending further evaluation and engagement.

However, answering questions on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, July 11, Employment and Labour Relations Minister, Ignatius Baffour Awuah confirmed that NPRA has given the go ahead for the hotels to be sold after the Authority was satisfied that SSNIT has complied with all due processes.

He said the directive from the NPRA was only to ensure that SSNIT had complied with all the processes and documentation and not to completely prevent SSNIT from selling the hotels.

“Yes, so, as a minister, I can tell you tell you on authority that NPRA has since indicated that they have seen the processes, and they think that SSNIT can go ahead.”

 

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