The Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has said the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has approved the sale of 60% of SSNIT’s shares in its hotel investment portfolio.

This follows a directive from the NPRA on June 28 ordering SSNIT to suspend its negotiations with Rock City over the sale of four hotels, pending further evaluation and engagement.

However, answering questions on the floor of Parliament on Thursday, July 11, Mr. Awuah confirmed that NPRA has given the go ahead for the hotels to be sold after the Authority was satisfied that SSNIT has complied with all due processes.

He said the directive from the NPRA was only to ensure that SSNIT had complied with all the processes and documentation and not to completely prevent SSNIT from selling the hotels.

“Yes, it is true that NPRA came up with a directive, but I would appreciate it if my brother, my colleague, really read the directive from NPRA. It said it needed to be furnished with all information relating to the sale of the hotels, which SSNIT has since done that.

“So, it wasn’t like a direct something that SSNIT should not go ahead to do anything, but then, SSNIT can only go ahead when NPRA, which is the regulator within the field, had actually certified that they have seen all the documentation and the processes, and they think that we are good to go.

“Yes, so, as a minister, I can tell you tell you on authority that NPRA has since indicated that they have seen the processes, and they think that SSNIT can go ahead.”

Mr. Awuah further outlined some reasons for the sale of SSNIT’s 60 percent shares in the hotels.

“SSNIT considered only the sale of shares for its hotel investment portfolio as a strategic decision after multiple attempts at restructuring proved insufficient.

“70-60% of its shares are deemed the most viable solution to prevent further depletion of resources and to bring in private participation.”

“Is it a good business activity? Yes, I want to believe my colleague is listening to me fully, well because I answered by saying that some of the investments are either making low returns or making losses.

“So it is not in all cases that we are making losses, but even for those that are making profits, the rate of returns is lower.”