The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has justified its decision to sell 60% stake in a number of its hotels to Rock City Hotel Limited, a firm owned by Minister for Food and Agriculture and Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Bryan Acheampong.

In a press briefing on Monday, July 8, the Director General of SSNIT, Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo insisted that all the hotels put up for sale have recorded consistent losses.

According to him, the majority of hotels are not paying dividends and that selling them was the only option to revive the hotels.

"I don't think anyone running an investment funding in the world would be sitting and earning substandard returns.. we have to address the issue," he explained.

He added, "If you look at these hotels, they are capital-intensive businesses, they require... continuous capital expenditure. SSNIT doesn't have the necessary funding to do that. The businesses have been making consistent losses."

According to him, to help solve this issue, they sought a strategic investor to salvage the situation after all other means failed.

"We’ve been through quite a lengthy process to do so. Bear in mind, we’ve also tried having external management companies running the SSNIT hotels and that hasn’t resolved the problem either.

“So, for us, we look at it two-fold; that we are looking to resolve a problem and do so with the introduction of a strategic investor and we outlined the reasons there."

Mr Osafo-Maafo also stated that SSNIT did not breach any procurement laws as due processes were followed during the bidding process.

For this reason, he believes that as an entity, SSNIT’s move to sell its stakes was a financially sound decision.

Sale of SSNIT Hotels: Your son’s bid was never opened – Osafo-Maafo to Freddy Blay

Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo also denied claims by the former National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Freddy Blay that SSNIT rejected a 200 million dollar bid by his son's company to buy the 60 per cent stake in its hotels.

According to Mr Osafo-Maafo, the proposal by Spartan Ives did not make it through the first stage of the bid process. He however said the decision to sell off a 60 per cent stake remains inconclusive.

The Trust revealed that it has halted the negotiations in line with a directive from the National Pensions Regulatory Authority.