Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City withdraws bid to purchase SSNIT Hotels

The management of Rock City Hotel has withdrawn its bid to purchase 60 per cent shares of four hotels belonging to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

This comes after organized labour declared an indefinite strike beginning on Monday, July 15, in protest of the sale of the SSNIT hotels.

The strike announcement came a day after the National Pensions Regulatory Commission (NPRA) approved the transaction.

The NPRA initially suspended the sale of SSNIT’s stake to Agriculture Minister Dr Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City Hotel earlier but gave the green light for the deal to proceed on Thursday, July 11, 2024.

However, in a letter addressed to the Director General of SSNIT, Rock City’s management said the public’s negative reception of their bid would affect their brand.

“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 to be 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,” a part of the letter read.

For this reason, Rock City said they informed SSNIT of their “decision to withdraw our bid and discontinue our pursuit of this investment opportunity”.

It will be recalled that North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) to investigate allegations surrounding the sale of the six hotels owned by SSNIT to Bryan Acheampong.

In his petition, Mr Ablakwa said that documents in his possession indicated that SSNIT was on the verge of selling a majority 60% stake in six of its hotels to Rock City Hotel Limited, a company reportedly owned by Bryan Acheampong, the Minister for Food and Agriculture and MP for Abetifi.

The hotels under scrutiny in the petition include Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, Busua Beach Resort, and the Trust Lodge Hotel.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the deal lacked due process and violated procurement procedures.

He, therefore, asked CHRAJ to stop the hotel sale to the Abetifi MP.

However, SSNIT, in response, explained that based on its criteria set out for sale, Rock City Hotel Limited submitted the best and strongest technical and financial proposal among the bids received.

SSNIT further clarified that the bids were successful for only four hotels, not the entire six, as the North Tongu MP claimed.

Below is the full statement by Rock City