Rejoinder: EOCO chases SSNIT

By: Alabi, Joshua

March 8, 2017
The News Editor
Daily Guide Newspaper
Accra

REJOINDER: “EOCO CHASES SSNIT”

My attention has been drawn to a publication on page 20 of the March 8, 2017 edition
of the Daily Guide newspaper titled "EOCO Chases SSNIT."

The said publication falsely claimed that the former Board of SSNIT of which I was the
Chairman gave approval for the sale of six of the Trust's prime residential properties in
the last days of the previous government.
Here are the facts:
1. A Committee which was set up to look into the financial viability of some of the
assets of the Trust found that the listed properties were either unoccupied, or had
deteriorated, while others had outlived their usefulness.

2. Management explained to the Board that these assets did not yield any cash
returns to the Trust and had negatively affected the return on assets ratio while
the cost of maintenance of the properties were too high.

3. The Committee in its report recommended that the listed properties should be
sold.

4. Following the recommendations, the Board at its last meeting held on 5th
January, 2017 directed that management of the Trust should engage the
services of the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL) to value the
properties to be disposed of and revert to the Board. That is the incoming Board.

5. The Board decided that the report of the valuation should be submitted to the
next Board for review and consideration before the process of divestiture
begins.
6. The Board further directed that the sale should be advertised and bidders should
be required to submit bid bonds as part of the process. The Board further directed
that in doing so, due process should be followed.

7. I am not aware of any contrary decisions taken subsequently regarding this
matter. So it cannot be true that the former Board decided to sell properties at
the eleventh hour as claimed by the Daily Guide.
The sale has therefore not begun and could not have been concluded by the previous
Board.

I expect you to publish a retraction of the paragraph containing the false allegations
against my person and the previous Board.

Secondly, I expect Daily Guide to apologize unreservedly for the false publication and
give it the same level of prominence.
Finally, I expect this rejoinder to be published in full without any editing whatsoever.

Thank you.

Prof. Joshua Alabi
Former Vice-Chancellor, UPSA