SSNIT Rules Out Sale of Labadi Beach Hotel and La Palm Royal Beach Hotel
The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust has moved decisively to end months of speculation about the future of the Trust’s hotel assets, declaring that neither Labadi Beach Hotel nor La Palm Royal Beach Hotel will be sold.
“Let me assure the people of Ghana that we will not sell any of our hotel investments,” Kwasi Afreh Biney said in a firm statement that addresses concerns that have simmered since SSNIT’s controversial attempt to divest a 60 per cent stake in four hotels drew public backlash in previous years.
The declaration carries weight given the financial trajectory of the two properties. Labadi Beach Hotel, long the jewel in SSNIT’s hospitality crown, paid the Trust GH¢17.8 million in dividends for 2024 and recorded a profit after tax exceeding GH¢50 million. Its balance sheet is robust enough to secure financing independently, making a sale strategically unnecessary.
La Palm’s story is more nuanced but no less significant. For the first time in years, the beachfront property posted a profit—a modest GH¢1.8 million, but a milestone nonetheless for a hotel that had become synonymous with financial bleeding. “Bigger things start with humble beginnings,” Biney observed, crediting management interventions and accountability measures for the turnaround.
A five-year turnaround blueprint is now being developed for the broader Golden Beach Group, which includes La Palm, Elmina Beach Resort, and Busua Beach Resort. External consultants have submitted bids, and SSNIT is evaluating proposals that may include leasing arrangements designed to guarantee income while preserving the Trust’s ownership stake.
The refusal to sell marks a philosophical shift from SSNIT’s earlier approach to its hotel portfolio. Previous divestment attempts sparked a national debate about whether public pension assets should be transferred to private hands, with critics arguing that the hotels represented intergenerational wealth belonging to Ghanaian workers.
Biney framed the decision as part of SSNIT’s broader duty to protect contributors’ funds. “We will protect the workers’ funds we hold in trust while supporting businesses that demonstrate strong performance,” he said, drawing a line between profitable assets that deserve investment and underperforming ones that need restructuring rather than disposal.
The expansion plans for Labadi Beach Hotel signal SSNIT’s confidence in the hospitality sector’s growth potential. Discussions about adding rooms to the property are already under way, a development that could significantly increase the hotel’s revenue-generating capacity in a market where premium Accra properties consistently command high occupancy rates.
SSNIT’s investment strategy continues to evolve under current leadership, with the Trust having previously indicated that changes to Ghana’s retirement age would require national consensus rather than a unilateral Trust decision. The hotel divestment question, similarly, appears to have been settled by public sentiment as much as by financial analysis.
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