Rejoinder: EOCO chases SSNIT

By: Alabi, Joshua

March 8, 2017

The News Editor

Daily Guide Newspaper

Accra

REJOINDER: “EOCO CHASES SSNIT”

My attention has been drawn to a publication on page 20 of the March 8, 2017 edition

of the Daily Guide newspaper titled "EOCO Chases SSNIT."

The said publication falsely claimed that the former Board of SSNIT of which I was the

Chairman gave approval for the sale of six of the Trust's prime residential properties in

the last days of the previous government.

Here are the facts:

1. A Committee which was set up to look into the financial viability of some of the

assets of the Trust found that the listed properties were either unoccupied, or had

deteriorated, while others had outlived their usefulness.

2. Management explained to the Board that these assets did not yield any cash

returns to the Trust and had negatively affected the return on assets ratio while

the cost of maintenance of the properties were too high.

3. The Committee in its report recommended that the listed properties should be

sold.

4. Following the recommendations, the Board at its last meeting held on 5th

January, 2017 directed that management of the Trust should engage the

services of the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) to value the

properties to be disposed of and revert to the Board. That is the incoming Board.

5. The Board decided that the report of the valuation should be submitted to the

next Board for review and consideration before the process of divestiture

begins.

6. The Board further directed that the sale should be advertised and bidders should

be required to submit bid bonds as part of the process. The Board further directed

that in doing so, due process should be followed.

7. I am not aware of any contrary decisions taken subsequently regarding this

matter. So it cannot be true that the former Board decided to sell properties at

the eleventh hour as claimed by the Daily Guide.

The sale has therefore not begun and could not have been concluded by the previous

Board.

I expect you to publish a retraction of the paragraph containing the false allegations

against my person and the previous Board.

Secondly, I expect Daily Guide to apologize unreservedly for the false publication and

give it the same level of prominence.

Finally, I expect this rejoinder to be published in full without any editing whatsoever.

Thank you.

Prof. Joshua Alabi

Former Vice-Chancellor, UPSA