We’ll call off strike after official confirmation of SSNIT stake sale termination – NAGRAT

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has said that the association will only call off its intended strike if it receives an official communique to confirm the termination of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) sale of 60% stake in four of its hotels.

NAGRAT and other organised labour unions decided to lay down their tools effective Monday, July 15 after the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) approved the deal.

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

Following an emergency meeting by organised labour on Friday, July 12, the Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Dr. Yaw Baah, urged all workers to abstain from their work on Monday, July 15.

He said this will continue until the transaction is terminated.

But a statement from SNNIT issued on Friday, July 12, indicated that the state pension entity had cancelled its intended sale to a company owned by Dr Bryan Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture and MP for Abetifi.

Prior to the termination of the deal, Dr Acheampong’s company, Rock City Hotel, pulled out of the transaction, citing a negative public perception of the processes.

A few hours after Rock City Hotel publicly announced its discontinuation of the process, SSNIT also made a U-turn to halt the transaction.

The Board Chair of SSNIT, Elizabeth Ohene, who communicated the decision, assured “pensioners, contributors and the public of our commitment to managing the affairs of the Trust prudently for the sustainability of the pension scheme.”

However, the NAGRAT president said these developments were not reason enough to end its action.

According to him, in the era of technological advancement, anyone could have fabricated the letter, and until they received an official communique, they would not call off their strike.

“We are in a technological age and people are capable of doing anything with technology. We don’t want to take a decision that will [embarrass us] on Monday morning.

“We want to get surety that it is the SSNIT board headed by Elizabeth Ohene who actually took the decision ad communicated same the public,” Mr Carbonu said on JoyNews.