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I disagree with Kojo Yankah on his opinion piece titled �Sale of Merchant Bank, Hold on a Moment� published in the Daily Graphic of December 17, 2013 (Page 34). He says we are crucifying ourselves unjustly by raising issues based on unfounded assumptions in the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz by SSNIT.

The matter is in court so we are all restrained in our comments.

His views are based on some implicit assumptions which are flawed. I will tackle only five of these.

ASSUMPTION 1: SSNIT HAS TOLD US THE FULL STORY

The key question in this matter is whether the Fortiz bid for Merchant Bank, compared to the offers of Rand Bank, Sabre UK, UT Bank, etc was the best deal for SSNIT contributors and pensioners.

SSNIT has so far failed to respond to this question convincingly to the general public (many of whom are SSNIT contributors and pensioners) and its own Board of Trustees.

Otherwise how can organized labour, which has 4 persons on SSNIT�s 13 Member of Board �of Trustees in the persons of Kofi Asamoah (TUC Secretary General), Prince William Ankrah (General Secretary, Ghana Mine Workers Union), Kwame Amo-Dako (GNAT Represensative) and Naaba Alhaji Mahamadu Asibi Azongo (CLOGSAG represensative) be asking questions like: Who are the Directors of Fortiz? What is Fortiz�s source of funding?

These questions should be asked in the SSNIT Board room. And the answers should come from due diligence conducted by SSNIT itself or its transaction advisors.

Is it not strange that these questions are being asked at press conferences led by persons who are SSNIT Trustees and who presumably are, or should be, privy to all the details surrounding the transaction?

I cannot recall a time (and I stand for correction) that SSNIT openly advertised the sale or divestment of any its investments. It always prefers to conduct some kind of �restricted tendering� to a selected few. Up till this day we see the Government�s Divestiture Implementation Committee advertise the sale of state owned companies in local and international media.

Why does SSNIT not openly advertise similar bids?

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ASSUMPTION 2: SSNIT�S INVESTMENTS ARE ABOVE BOARD

If you trace the genesis of some of SSNIT�s equity investments you will find the long arms of politicians behind the scenes. The Golden Beach Hotels, Simnet Ghana, Wahome Steel, InterCity STC and Ningo Salt are just a few examples.

SSNIT has attracted the attention of the Economic and Organized Crime Office (formerly the Serious Fraud Office) over its investments.

It is better to let sleeping dogs lie. Else we will open a can of worms that may consume �respectable� persons across the NDC and NPP political divide. And the memories of some persons who have long joined their ancestors will be violated.

It has been established that President Mahama intervened in the past over Engineers and Planners indebtedness to Merchant Bank.

Tony Lithur is, or was, the President�s lawyer. He is the lawyer for Fortiz. He is also the lawyer for Engineers and Planners, Merchant Bank�s single largest debtor.

So where is the guarantee that some politician is not pushing SSNIT to do this deal?

ASSUMPTION 3: TRUST OUR PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS

The argument that we should trust SSNIT and Bank of Ghana has no merit in the light of history and recent events.

If all persons who have held high public office in Ghana since our independence in 1957 had acted with integrity and good faith to the people of Ghana, this country of ours will have been at par with Singapore and Malaysia. We will not be in our current sorry state where our governments cannot deliver any meaningful public service without donor assistance.

I am not proud of our public institutions as Kojo Yankah is. Every year the Auditor General reports how public officials have been misusing and stealing taxpayer�s money with impunity.

Consider the revelations that emerged from the Ghana @ 50 Commission four years ago. Add those we are hearing from the ongoing Judgement Debt Commission. Top it with the Woyome, SADA, GYEEDA and SUBAH scandals.

Which public institution or public official can be trusted in today�s Ghana? �

Should we accept in good faith the statements of Bank of Governor Kofi Wampah and SSNIT Director General Ernest Thompson that everything is fine? No.

We are waiting with keen interest Bank of Ghana�s response to IMANI�s allegation that Tier 2 pension funds may have been made available to Fortiz to finance this transaction.

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ASSUMPTION 4: KPMG HAS GIVEN THE DEAL ITS STAMP OF APPROVAL, SO IT IS FINE

In 2002 the big accounting firm, Arthur Anderson, went out of business globally over the Enron scandal in the United States. The firm was found to have connived and condoned accounting fraud committed by Enron officials that had gone on for years.

Until the Enron affair became public, the firm had a solid reputation and was counted among what was then known as the �Big Five� accounting firms. 11 years on, there are still civil suits pending against the firm related to its audits of Enron and other companies.

So no accounting or consulting firm, local or international, is a saint.

Being a consultant myself, I have experienced several situations, especially where the stakes are high, where the people who hire you to advise them want to predetermine your conclusions and recommendations.

They will want you to rubberstamp their agenda to give it credibility and validity in the eyes of key stakeholders. It is then left to you and your God to compromise nothing, compromise a little, or compromise a lot.

So we cannot trust any business advisor in this matter.

ASSUMPTION 5: THE big names behind fortiz are reputable

True, the big names behind Fortiz are reputable. And I fully support fellow Ghanaians taking over the commanding heights of our economy.

Yet the reality is that you have to be very smart to survive in business in Ghana, much more be successful in a big way. And being smart does not equate with being ethical. Most often it is about including some �ways and means� in your business practices.

One key lesson from the judgement debt, SADA, GYEEDA and SUBAH scandals is that some of our high flying and award winning business people have enough skeletons in their cupboards to fill a grave yard.

Our elders say, it is only when the frog dies that that you will know its full length.

TIMES HAVE CHANGED, BUSINESS AS USUAL IS OUT OF THE WINDOW

Kojo Yankah is surprised that the public, media and organized labour should be querying this transaction in an unprecedented manner.

Times have changed.

The public has lost trust in our public institutions and public officials. We are also uncertain whether the leaders of civil society groups like organized labour are protecting our collective interests.� So we have decided to �shine our eyes� and become Citizen Vigilantes.

Business as usual where politicians and their associates, with the tacit blessing of leaders of organized labour, have used SSNIT as a piggy bank of some sort to facilitate their business interests is no more.

SSNIT SHOULD MAKE FULL PUBLIC DISCLOSURE

Those making �noise� about this transaction may not be doing so with clean hands. Nevertheless the larger issue at stake is whether SSNIT is prudently managing workers pension funds.

It is unfortunate that the controversy has being reduced to the usual political football between the NDC and NPP which is often played without a referee. And where, the only rule of engagement is to justify your failures with the past misdeeds of your opponent.

Irrespective of the outcome of the court case SSNIT can only redeem its dented reputation in this matter by making a full public disclosure of the details (and documents) surrounding this transaction so that we can all analyze and judge things for ourselves.

In particular it should reveal the reasons for the disposal of its majority interest in Merchant Bank; the criteria for the selection of a buyer of its shares; the bidding process; the details of the bids submitted; the bid evaluation report by the transaction advisor, KPMG; minutes of the SSNIT Board meeting that decided to sell Merchant Bank to Fortiz.

Nicholas Issaka Gbana
[email protected]
http://www.facebook.com/n.issaka.gbana

The writer is a Management Consultant and Member of the National Democratic Congress

Writer�s Note: Kojo Yankah�s article appeared as a full page opinion in the Daily Graphic of December 17, 2013. Unfortunately the Editor could not find space for this rejoinder because it exceeded 800 words.