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Pensioners are receiving better pay under SSNIT Scheme-Director-General

Ho, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, the Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), has said payments of pensioners under the SSNIT Scheme are better.He said what they are receiving was better than what they would have receiv...

Ho, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, the Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), has said payments of pensioners under the SSNIT Scheme are better.

He said what they are receiving was better than what they would have received if they had invested their contributions in the 91-Day Treasury Bills.

“For Pensioners who have been on the Pension Payroll for 20 years, they have received more than five times what they would have received from Treasury Bills,” he mentioned.

Mr Joseph Poku, the Chief Actuary of SSNIT, in an address on behalf of Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, during a meeting in Ho as part of a nationwide tour to educate regional and district leaders of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) about the Scheme, encouraged participants to focus on the value the SSNIT Scheme offered and contribute on their correct salaries to enjoy enhanced pensions.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, noted that the meetings which were being organised in collaboration with the national executives of TUC formed part of the Trust’s efforts to improve public knowledge about its operations.

He said 25 per cent of workers on the SSNIT Scheme pay monthly contributions of GH?55 or less and if the workers were to retire on the basic salaries of GH?500 or less, they would earn a monthly pension of GH?300.00.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said pensions were a direct reflection of the basic salaries on which contributions were paid, therefore the higher the salaries to which members contributed, the higher their pension.

He also added that the longer the period of contribution, the higher the pensions right earned, therefore members who contributed for 35 years and above earn the maximum pension right of 60 per cent.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said data also showed that over 87 per cent of workers had declared basic salaries of GH?3000 or less to the Trust adding that pensions paid by SSNIT was only a reflection of the basic salaries the workers had declared.

He said the Scheme was generous and added that even though workers contributed 11 per cent of their basic salaries, the Scheme guaranteed members up to 60 percent of the average of the three years’ best salaries and paid them pension for life with annual increments.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said SSNIT would rollout a comprehensive campaign to register self-employed persons and informal sector workers onto the Scheme this year where the Trust will launch a SSNIT App and Mobile Money payment platform to ease doing business with members especially the self-employed.

Mr Joshua Ansah, the Deputy Secretary General of TUC, urged SSNIT to implement measures that would help members track their contributions from the first day of joining the Scheme till the day they retired.

He entreated participants to take full advantage of the engagement to gain better understanding and clarity of the Scheme to secure their future.

Mr Emmanuel Gator, Chairman of the Health Services Workers Union for Volta/Oti regions, commended SSNIT for partnering the TUC to educate members about the Scheme called for continuous engagements to enable more workers to be better informed about the Scheme.

Madam Esther Agyakwadwo, a participant at the meeting said she was delighted that SSNIT had continued to engage the TUC and called on the Trust to decentralise its public education to enable workers gain better understanding of the Scheme.

SSNIT is a statutory public institution charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766 as amended by Act 883) with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme.

The SSNIT Pension Scheme has an active membership of over 1.7 million. In June 2022, the Trust paid a total of GH?277.13 million to some 228,367 pensioners.

The highest pension earner receives GH?142,564.97 per month, while the lowest-earning pensioner gets GH?300.00.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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