Former Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Ernest Thompson, says the deal between Rock City Hotel and the social security organisation should be halted.
According to him, SSNIT had not performed due diligence in the process it adopted to sell 60% of its stake in four hotels.
Speaking on Joy FM’s Top Story on May 22, he explained that SSNIT is an investment firm; hence, before certain strategic decisions are made, the organisation must ensure that all boxes are ticked. However, from the concerns raised, it appears SSNIT was rushing the process.
“I think that at this state, it might be necessary for the SSNIT board to just stop the transaction. The procedure they’ve used is not the best. SSNIT is a pension fund and it is a long-term investor. It is not a bank-holding deposit so SSNIT investments are analysed from serious.
“You just therefore can’t exit from SSNIT investment that way. For investment like the hotels and the role they’ve played in this country if you want to exit from them, you have to do a lot of background work.
“And that means that you need experience on how to handle it. I was surprised that from 2018, a process of this nature started without engaging the TUC,” he told host, Evans Mensah.
He argued that although the Trades Union Congress has representatives on the SSNIT board, issues pertaining to investment should engage key stakeholders. He stressed that “there is a practical way of handling sensitive issues of this nature.”
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