Attempted & failed  SSNIT hotel sale: Fingers pointing everywhere!

The Today newspaper has heard from unimpeachable sources in the Akufo-Addo Administration that officials are pointing fingers at each other; a vigorous blame game is underway; and there are attempts to “punish” some insiders for messing up the sale of four SSNIT hotels to Rock City Hotels.  Some of the executives and directors are cowering in fear of summary dismissal.  We hear that it is not only SSNIT and NPRA officials that are involved.  Officials from other regulators such as SEC, BoG, NIC and, ministries such as Finance, Employment etc are singing, “It wasn’t me”!

In a dramatic reversal, the Chairperson of the Social Security & National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Madam Elizabeth Ohene signed an announcement on Friday to stop the failed attempt to sell 60% of SSNIT’s stake in six hotels in Ghana.

This action was forced by an unprecedented and overwhelming public demand to stand down the sale and furious threats by all manner of the public sector employee unions – health, mortuary, tricycle, judicial, public services, to declare nationwide strike.  Some unions have gone further asking for the dismissal of directors and executives.

This was preceded by governance gone wrong in many ways.  Politics reared an ugly head and attempted to uproot executives and directors of the state institutions involved.  Since “orders from above” comments have come into the picture, Today is asking to be made public minutes of meetings, official letters and other correspondence involving Jubilee House, various ministries and the directors and executives of government organizations on the subject.  If these documents do not exist, then word of mouth evidence can be turned to whatever direction the wind blows.

Who asked SSNIT’s Director General to mount a frontal attack on the hotels and use the failure to make profits to justify their decision to sell?  We ask, who gave the authority to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, to announce in Parliament that the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) had approved the sale of 60% of SSNIT’s shares in its hotel investment portfolio?  This, after the NPRA on June 28, directed SSNIT to suspend its negotiations with Rock City over the sale of four hotels, pending further evaluation and engagement.

The finger-pointing and blame game are indicative a once-sweet politically wrapped deal gone wrong.  It has woken up the public sector Labour force and the general public in way unimaginable just weeks ago.  The people’s power is in play.

Source: Today.com.gh