President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has dismissed the controversies surrounding the sale of a 60% stake in four hotels owned by the Social Security National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to Rock City Hotels, which is owned by Agricultural Minister Bryan Acheampong, as unnecessary.

During his address at the 12th quadrennial delegates conference of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Tuesday, the President advised Ghanaians to carefully consider statements about SSNIT's assets.

He emphasized that SSNIT is diligently working to ensure profitability while expanding its reach and influence.

“The improved performance of SSNIT which recently in all successes [led to] GHC230m on its operations. This should be reassuring to organised labour and perhaps bring into sharper relief the unnecessary controversy that was recently generated by SSNIT’s efforts to offload non-performing assets in its hotel portfolio.”

“It is my understanding that the transaction that was aborted represented the only occasion in the recent history of SSNIT that external investors sought to invest in SSNIT holdings.

“All of us need to be measured when it comes to making decisions and pronouncements that would affect the long-term interests of pensioners,” he stated.

The decision to sell SSNIT’s hotels triggered considerable backlash, particularly from North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa and organized labor, who criticized it as a distress sale to a government appointee.

The controversy prompted nationwide protests and demands for a restructuring of SSNIT’s board. The sale was eventually halted after organized labor threatened a nationwide strike.