North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has declared that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) board chair Elizabeth Ohene’s op-ed piece, which addressed the controversy surrounding the sale of 60% of four SSNIT hotels to Rock City, does not reflect the opinions of the board as a whole.
The fairness of the procedure that resulted in Rock City Hotel being chosen as the top contender to purchase a 60% share in the four hotels held by SSNIT has been defended by Elizabeth Ohene.
Elizabeth Ohene said in an article titled “Coming out of the Hotels” that she would take accountability and anticipates facing legal action should any proof of corruption be discovered in the steps leading up to the selection of Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City.
She said the procedure followed all applicable laws and was open and honest. She stressed that SSNIT is not required to obtain the president’s consent, which is why it did not do so.
“I can state without a doubt that the procedure followed in order to choose Rock City as the preferred bidder was transparent, above board, compliant with all laws and regulations, and able to stand up to close examination.
“Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa asserts that God and Ghana are supporting his campaign. If this is the case, then I pray that all of God’s angels and Ghana’s temporal and spiritual investigative agencies will scrutinise the procedure and report to the public any anomalies or indications of corrupt behaviour. In fact, I will take full responsibility and accept prosecution if they discover any evidence of corruption.
Mr. Ablakwa said that Ms. Ohene’s op-ed piece was her personal viewpoint, personal observation, and personal analysis on the subject during an interview with Umaru Sanda Amadu on Point Blank on Eyewitness News on Wednesday.
He clarified that it was expected of the SSNIT Board Chair to represent the board and address the grievances of those board members who had publicly expressed their disapproval of the deal.
“This is just her personal view, based on her own observations and analysis. I have one task for you with this painting. As the board chair finally spoke out on the issue, one would have assumed that she was representing the organisation and the opinions of all board members in an official and authoritative manner.
In this instance, she hasn’t done that. Recall that on May 20, this year, organised labour held a press conference wherein they declared to the world that SSNIT should halt the transaction, that their representatives, including four representatives on the board and Elizabeth Ohene, the chair of the board, were against it.
“I assumed that would be addressed by the Honourable Elizabeth Ohene. She doesn’t talk about this. We cannot, therefore, interpret the honourable Elizabeth Ohene’s opinion piece as representing the opinions of the entire board given that other board members have said on the platform of organised labour that they oppose this transaction,” he said.
He also emphasised that Ms. Ohene purposefully omitted the important details from her report.
The Honourable Elizabeth Ohene purposefully stays away from all of the important and relevant topics. The public is outraged by this situation,” he said.