The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) is divesting itself from its hotels in different parts of the country.

It is currently looking for investors to acquire majority shares in five hotels run under the Trust.

The hotels to be divested are Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Hotel, Busia Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort and Ridge Hotel, Cape Coast.

The Director-General of the SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, told the Daily Graphic that the hotels needed capital injection to perform to the optimum.

He said instead of SSNIT injecting funds to refurbish the listed hotels, the board and management had decided to invite investors to capture majority shares.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said an advertisement for transaction advisors had been placed in the media and gave an assurance that the process for the divesting of the hotels would be transparent.

The SSNIT Director-General explained that the Trust was focused on its core duties to bring maximum satisfaction to pensioners.

Transaction Advisor

Applicants are expected to deposit tender documents at the SSNIT Pension House in Accra on or before January 16, 2019.

The documents would be opened in the presence of applicants or their representatives on the closing date of January 16, 2019.

The transaction advisor is expected to provide assistance to the Trust in the development of the necessary documentation for an international competitive selection procedure for the selection of a strategic partner.

The transaction advisor is also expected to provide assistance to the SSNIT management in negotiating with the strategic investor, as well as provide a valuation of the hotels under consideration in the transaction among many other terms.

Plans for 2019

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said the Trust had a number of pragmatic programmes lined up for 2019.

For instance, he said, the Trust had added mobile money (MOMO) platform to receive employee contributions this year.

The MOMO platform would be linked to SSNIT’s payment systems as part of moves by the Trust to make payment flexible and convenient for employers.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said the project would be fully rolled out before the last quarter of 2019.

“We are liaising with the telcos to roll out the programme nationwide,” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang told the Daily Graphic.

He explained that the MOMO platform would be tied to SSNIT’s system.

“The only innovation here is to make the payment of contributions very flexible for employers, especially those with employees numbering less than 20,” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang explained.

He said the existing methods of paying employee contributions were still in operation.

Assurance

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang assured the public that the new management and board of the Trust were working effectively to safeguard the contributions of beneficiaries.

“We are taking prudent measures to ensure sustainability of the scheme. We are focused on efficient customer service to improve our services to the public,” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said.

He said the Trust was focused on making it easier for people “to give us their money and also make it easier to collect their money.”

“We can only achieve this when we are transparent and I can assure the general public that we have intensified our internal and external controls to protect the funds of contributors, as well as make the scheme sustainable,” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang continued.

Initiatives

He said the SSNIT was also liaising with the informal sector to address the peculiar needs of low income earners.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said the future looked bright for the SSNIT in that the Trust had for the first time in many years received dividends of GH¢1 million and GH¢500,000 from the Labadi Hotel and Trust Hospitals respectively.

He assured the public that management had resolved and was working assiduously to ensure that the scheme was sustainable for generations to come.