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The Social Security and National Trust (SSNIT) Board has been under pressure from Organized Labor to halt plans to divest 60% of shares in four hotels, according to Isaac Bampoe Addo, Chairman of The Forum and Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association of Ghana (CLOGSAG).
Bampoe Addo emphasized in a media interview that the leadership of Organized Labor has strongly urged the Board to terminate the agreement to transfer ownership rights to Rock City Hotel, which is owned by Minister of Food and Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong, following a critical meeting with the Board of SSNIT on Thursday, May 30. The meeting was chaired by veteran journalist Madam Elizabeth Ohene.
Mr. Bampoe Addo emphasized the importance of labor’s involvement in SSNIT’s affairs, stating that workers’ contributions are what keep SSNIT operating.
He expressed the organized labor movement’s resolve to take command of SSNIT and emphasized their stake in making sure that decisions on how to use and manage SSNIT funds serve the interests of funders.
“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.
Ever since it became known that Bryan Acheampong, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, had obtained a bid to purchase a 60% stake in the four hotels, a number of individuals and groups, including the Trades Union Congress, have sharply opposed the transaction.
The protest grew louder after Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the MP for North Tongu, filed a formal petition asking the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to look into claims related to the hotels’ sale.
The Union petitioned the SSNIT board in response to the unrest in the public and Ablakwa’s appeal.
Even though there were four labor representatives on the SSNIT board, the board decided to organize a meeting in order to discuss the issues brought up by various interested parties.
Source: Ghanatodayonline.com
