Organised Labour goes against sale of SSNIT hotels

The Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG) Isaac Bampoe Addo, has disclosed that Organised Labour has asked the Board of the Social Security and National Trust (SSNIT) to cancel the ongoing plans to sell 60% shares in four hotels to Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong.

Mr Bampoe Addo told Journalists after a meeting with the Board of SSNIT on Thursday, May 30 that Organised Labour firmly told the SSNIT Board to cancel plans to transfer the shares of SSNIT in those four hotels to Rock City Hotel, owned by Bryan Acheampong.

“We were not convinced. There are so many negatives in the transaction that we have pointed out to them. How can you go through a tender process and give specifications and along the line you change the specifications? Our Procurement Act does not allow this. We have told them to cancel the deal.”

“We will take control, this is our money. We will take control, SSNIT does not need to go ahead with the deal, …they dare not go ahead with the deal, and we have asked for a total restructuring of SSNIT,” he said.

Several individuals and groups have strongly criticised the decision by SSNIT to sell the four hotels to Rock City.

Member of Parliament for North Tongu who first exposed the deal has petitioned SSNIT to probe and halt the sale of the four hotels. He has promised to stage a demonstration against the sale of the hotels.

The Forum for Accountability and Justice (FAAJ) has also demanded the immediate dismissal of the Director General of Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo, over the controversial sale of the hotels.

In a statement released on Thursday, May 30, FAAJ expressed disappointment and concern over Osafo-Maafo’s silence on calls to halt the sale process, despite allegations of irregularities and unconstitutional processes involved.

The group alleged that Osafo-Maafo has been preoccupied with selling off the hotels to his party cronies since his appointment as Deputy Director-General in charge of Investment & Development.

FAAJ accused Osafo-Maafo of disrespecting the demands of Ghanaian workers and snubbing investigations by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).

The group believes that Osafo-Maafo’s actions are part of a grand scheme of state capture and must be resisted by all well-meaning Ghanaians.