Rock City Hotel withdraws bid to buy shares of SSNIT hotels

Rock City Hotel Limited, which is owned by Food and Agriculture Minister Bryan Acheampong, has officially withdrawn its bid to buy 60% shares of 4 hotels of the state-owned Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

In a letter to the Director-General of SSNIT, Rock City explained that it has decided to pull out of the deal because the Trust has failed to convince the general public that it is a good deal and in the interest of the country.

It added it had to withdraw its bid because the negative commentary on it was likely to affect its future investments.

“At all material times, we believed that we had participated in an internationally competitive bid and were happy to have learned of our success having edged out the 15 other organisations that participated in the process. It therefore came as a total surprise to us that some of your stakeholders have raised concerns about your decision to seek strategic partners for these hotels.

“We have also taken note of ongoing media discussions on your decision to seek strategic investors for these hotels. We have also taken note of your recent media engagements and press statements ostensibly defending your decision to seek a strategic investor. Flowing from all the commentary monitored and the undue negativity that has attended this commentary, we feel you have not done enough to engage all your stakeholders, leading to perceptions that we don’t want associated with our brand. We believe that such negativity is not only injurious to our brand but also jeopardises the success of the investment we intend to make in these hotels,” part of the letter which was dated, Friday, July 12, 2024, reads.

It added, “Therefore, we are writing to inform you of our decision to withdraw our bid and discontinue our pursuit of this investment opportunity. Finally, in the interest of accountability and transparency, we consent to you releasing all or whatever parts of our bid documents for public scrutiny or publish same if it should become necessary.”

The withdrawal of the deal comes after Organised Labour, comprising the Trades Union Congress, Public Sector Workers, and Ghana Federation of Labour, announced a strike action starting from Monday over the approval of the deal to sell shares of the 4 SSNIT hotels to Rock City Hotel Limited, which belongs to the Minister for Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong.

The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, who is also in charge of Ghana's pension sector, stated that the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) had approved the sale of the 60% share of the four hotels, which are the Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, and Ridge Royal Hotel.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, July 11, 2024, Baffour-Awuah clarified that the authority only directed SSNIT to halt the process for the sale of the shares of the hotels in order to look into certain issues which have now been resolved.

Reacting to this in a joint statement issued on Friday, July 12, 2024, Organised Labour stated that it still stands by its position that the deal to sell the hotels was not in the interest of Ghanaian workers, which it told President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in a meeting on June 25, 2024.

It went ahead to instruct all workers in Ghana not to go to work from Monday till SSNIT announces the termination of the deal to sell the shares of the four hotels.

BAI/ ADG

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