Botched SSNIT hotels deal: Sophia Akuffo suspects create, loot and share
A former Chief Justice, Sophia Akuffo, has accused the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) of deliberately collapsing state institutions to sell to cronies at the detriment of the masses.
She was commenting on the failed attempts by SSNIT to sell its shares in some hotels to the MP for Abetifi, Dr Bryan Acheampong, who doubles as the Minister of Agriculture.
“SSNIT will justify it because they have run down the hotels and just like in the public sector, a lot of public properties have been run down just so that the value will be run down and always at the end of some cycle or the other, they do sweet heart deals and do this distribution among themselves. SSNIT can say I have defamed them but I don’t care,” She said.
Having spent nearly 30 years as a Supreme Court judge, she smells red flags about the deal, suggesting a conflict of interest, in support of parties opposing the sale of majority stakes to a company owned by the Agriculture minister.
“Conflict of interest is conflict of interest. You can’t be the judge and the jury. You can’t be the lawyer and the judge. You can’t be the litigant and after you have given your evidence and everything, your lawyer has done his submission, and it is time to determine the outcome and now you are going to sit among the jury and you want to be part of that,” She pointed out.
She insisted, “Conflict of interest is not defined by the individual. Sometimes a conflict of interest, when you are managing standards, it is part of the performance standards. When you are managing ethical standards, sometimes it is simply perception. Will a reasonable man in the street, if you were to tell them of this, what will they say about it? If here, you can surmise that they will say it smells, then it smells. When you are a public person just because there is no law that says you cannot do it does not mean you should do it. Even in the Bible, it says I can do all things but not all things are good.”
She spoke to TV3 in an interview on the matter on Thursday, July 25.
It will be recalled that organised labour declared an indefinite nationwide strike starting Monday, July 15, 2024, compelling SSNIT to suspend the sale to Dr Acheampong’s Rock City Hotel.
Later, the management of Rock City Hotel withdrew its bid to purchase 60 per cent shares of the four hotels belonging to SSNIT.
The whole deal to sell the SSNIT properties was exposed by the MP for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.
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 Dr Bryan Acheampong, the Minister for Food and Agriculture.
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 sale of SSNIT’s shares in the hotels lacked due process and violated procurement procedures.
However, SSNIT, in response, explained that based on its criteria set out for the 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.