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I am a pensioner and therefore I should be happy about any initiative aimed at protecting my pension. But in my view, despite its speedy termination, the recent strike by organised labour against the SSNIT decision to sell some shares, continues to raise numerous disturbing questions.
In recent times, headlines in Ghana have been dominated by outrage in some quarters, especially organised labour, over the longtime decision by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust to sell shares in some of their hotels. The Trust, an agency of the Government of Ghana administers the National Pension Scheme.
However, a raging controversy erupted over the acceptance of the offer from Rock City Hotel Limited, which SSNIT considered the best of the offers received. The Rock City company happens to be owned by Dr Bryan Acheampong, entrepreneur, MP for Abetifi and currently Minister of Agriculture.
On Friday, July 12, 2024, organised labour had called the strike to back their demand for SSNIT to cancel the proposed sale of 60 percent shares in four of six SSNIT hotels which the Trust deemed no longer profit making concerns: Labadi Beach, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort and Ridge Royal Hotel.
Thankfully, after an emergency meeting of the stakeholders on Monday, July 15, the beginning of the strike, it was called off, but with a one-month ultimatum to SSNIT by the unions to address other concerns.
The termination followed Rock City’s withdrawal of its offer on July 12, and SSNIT’s decision that same day to halt the sale, as announced in a media release by the Trust’s Chairperson, Ms Elizabeth Ohene.
Interestingly, the sale decision was not a recent development. Reportedly, in 2018, SSNIT management had decided to sell some shares because of the consistently poor financial performance of those hotels. Indeed, one industry observer notes that the decision actually dates back as far as 2013.
However, the matter took a different dimension when on July 11, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, announced in Parliament that SSNIT had been given the go-ahead by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority. Apparently, this sparked opponents’ fury, and the strike.
Although the sale resolve was taken six years ago, by the then board and management, it appears the current saga was triggered by the Opposition National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
In May, 2024, Mr Ablakwa had petitioned Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate the sale of shares in six SSNIT hotels to Bryan Acheampong and requested CHRAJ to halt the sale. It later emerged that four hotels were involved.
Mr. Ablakwa argued that, the transaction lacked due process and that procurement procedures had not been followed.
“I am requesting CHRAJ to commence full and impartial investigations into the sale and prospective purchase by Bryan Acheampong using his company the Rock City Hotel Limited,” he stated.
Furthermore, “I have also drawn attention to blatant violations of Article 78(3) and 98(2) of the 1992 Constitution as diligent checks from Parliament’s Committee on Office of Profit reveal that Hon. Bryan Acheampong has not applied and does not have the permission of the Speaker of Parliament to hold an office of profit,” he wrote.
Mr Bryan Acheampong, has always denied any wrongdoing. “I wish to state that there is a difference between Bryan Acheampong and Rock City. I own the company (but) I don’t take daily decisions for the company. I am a non-executive director,” he said on Joy FM on May 21.
Notably, disappointingly, almost all the country’s important unions announced that they, too, would join the strike! Mr Ablakwa has argued that selling state properties to government officials is an abuse of power and should be prohibited, and probably that was their rationale.
Most depressing for me was the announcement by even the Ghana Medical Association of their participation. Doctors were prepared to risk the lives of Ghanaians by joining such a strike!
Incidentally, as listed on the SSNIT website, organised labour has four representatives on their Board:
The Board of Trustees are the Trustees of the scheme, and they are responsible for the policy direction of SSNIT. The Trustees have representation from the government, employers, and workers. It is constituted as follows:
1. A Chairperson. 2. Two persons nominated by the President (one of whom is a woman). 3. Two representatives of the Ghana Employers' Associations. 4. Four representatives of Organised Labour. 5. One representative of National Pensioners' Association. 6. One representative of the Ministry responsible for Finance not below the rank of a Director. 7. One representative of the Security Services who is not a member of the Ghana Armed Forces. 8. The Director-General of the Trust. 9. Company Secretary of the Trust.
I was looking forward to CHRAJ’s findings, concerning the Ablakwa petition but, strangely, the next thing we heard was a demonstration against the shares sale. On Tuesday, June 18, the “Hands off our hotels” demonstration took place in Accra, its objective, mainly to pressurise President Nana Akufo-Addo to stop the Rock City negotiation.
I wondered if it meant that he no longer had confidence in the ability of CHRAJ to come out with a “full and impartial” report to back his objective.
Mr Ablakwa and his supporters maintain that contrary to the SSNIT claim, the hotels in question are actually making profit and thus there is no need to offload the shares.
If the hotels are as profitable as we are being led to believe, which owner of a profit making concern will dispose of it? Which farmer with hens laying the proverbial golden eggs will decide to sell those prized hens?
According to reports, the SSNIT shares offloading decision was advertised both in Ghanaian and international media. If it was a wrong move then, why didn’t the organised labour representatives on the SSNIT Board immediately raise enough red flags for their unions to threaten strike then, in 2018?
For its part, SSNIT has stressed that in the transaction, due process was fully followed, and with transparency.
Or is the turmoil now, in 2024, because the prospective buyer company happens to be owned by a member of the ruling government, Bryan Acheampong?
Indeed, at a point, the perceived hostility against Mr Acheampong was so much that I began to wonder if it’s only in Ghana that when there seems to be a problem over selling something, it’s the prospective buyer who becomes an animosity target, and not the seller!
No wonder there is speculation in some quarters that the furore and the strike are part of a sinister political agenda. What is fuelling this belief also is the perception that the goalposts are being moved in this matter.
Although, the controversy commenced with the demand for the cancellation of the shares sale, now there seems to be even a campaign for the SSNIT Trustees Board to be dissolved and the management dismissed! If the current Board and management are to be removed, it means they will be replaced by a new set of people.
I’m wondering how long it will take for a new set to find their feet and deliver the results expected by the critics. Evidently, the time it took to implement a decision taken in 2018, indicates that it wasn’t an easy step for SSNIT; therefore, conceivably, it was well considered.
Looking at the institutions represented on the Board, I find it difficult to believe that they would take decisions without doing due diligence.
Moreover, if there was impropriety, isn’t that what CHRAJ could have resolved? For the record, as a pensioner, I have had cause in the past to commend SSNIT, in a newspaper column, for their efficiency.
When I attained pension age, because of the widespread rumours about pension processing hassles, I was quite apprehensive about how long it would take before receiving my pension. But I recall that after the settlement of a SSNIT loan by a niece for whom I had acted as a guarantor, all the processes were soon completed and I was immediately on the pensions payroll, without any prompting from me.
Moreover, at the beginning of every year, SSNIT publicises the dates when pensions will be credited to bank accounts; and they do so promptly – a minor detail, but very important for planning one’s budget, especially as the pension isn’t much!
I believe that it was the same competence, and determination to ensure a solid SSNIT fund, that led to the bold decision to sell the shares for more revenue and to plug losses.
Obviously, now that the transaction has been discontinued, the question is: what next?
My prayer is that the next line of action, presumably as advised by organised labour, will prove that truly there are other, and better, options for the hotels to become profitable – but which somehow the current SSNIT Trustees and management have overlooked.
