The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has an astounding amount of about $185 million locked up in a housing project in the Greater Accra Region.
The revelation was made by the Auditor-General’s office in its Report of Public Accounts of Ghana – Public Boards, Corporations and Other Statutory Institutions for the year ending December 31, 2019.
The report was put together after several public Boards, corporations and other statutory bodies had their accounts audited by the Auditor-General.
The report, which covers over 1,000 pages, states that SSNIT had invested a large sum of money into a housing project at two locations- Klagon and Sakumono- but it seems the investment did not yield any substantial returns.
This step was in sharp contrast to the dictates of Section 91 (1) of the Public Financial Management Act, 2016 which urged all public corporations to “ensure the efficient management of the financial resources of the public corporation including the collection and receipt of moneys due to that public corporation.”
Page 81 of the document reads that:
In spite of the provision of Section 91(1) of the PFM Act 2016, Management of SSNIT sunk a cedi equivalent of US$185,250,000.00 in a housing Project at Klagon and Sakumono. The Project is halted and it is being managed by RSS, a Joint Venture Company belonging to SSNIT and Regimanuel Gray.
The report goes on to say that the Auditor-General’s office advised SSNIT to heed to a recommendation from RSS on the need to rent out the houses in order to minimise what was being lost on the project.
In fact, the report said that after a visit by the Auditor-General’s Department, it came to light that “out of the 32 completed housing units, only two of them were sold. Also, none of the nine flats completed blocks at Klagon, Sakumono site was sold.”