The Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) has challenged the government on the controversial sale of Labadi Beach Hotels and five other SSNIT hotels to Rock City Hotels belonging to the Minister for Agriculture, Bryan Acheampong.
According to the Federation, instead of selling the hotels at what he termed ‘peanuts,’ the government should rather employ Bryan Acheampong to manage them, ‘given his reputed business acumen.’
Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsfile, on Saturday, June 22, General Secretary of GFL, Abraham Koomson stated, “If they believe he is such an astute businessman who could change the fortunes of the hotels, then they should employ him to manage these hotels.”
The six SSNIT hotels that are being sold are Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal Beach Resort, Elmina Beach Resort, Ridge Royal Hotel, Busua Beach Resort, and Trust Lodge Hotel.
He argued that SSNIT has the necessary funding from workers’ contributions to manage its businesses, including these hotels effectively without necessarily selling off assets.
Mr. Koomson emphasized the importance and value of the facilities, pointed to their location and quizzed, “And they want to sell this?”
According to him, if this transaction had come to the attention of workers in 2018 when it started, the Ghana Federation of Labour would have mobilized its entire membership countrywide including those in the informal sector to protest.
He criticized the supposed rationale behind selling these six valuable hotels when SSNIT continues to receive steady funding from workers’ contributions.
“Every month, workers’ contributions come in. So I don’t see why they claim to have challenges with funding in managing these asserts,” Koomson added.
He called for stronger oversight and representation on the SSNIT board to protect workers’ interests adding, “We need to make sure that the national interest is defended. If I were on the board, I would not sit there for a second without defending what is right,” he stated.
The General Secretary stressed the importance of organization among workers to prevent such issues from recurring and argued labour is not organized as it should be.
He urged workers to sit down and address these issues collectively.
