By Issah Mohammed, GNA
Accra, May 21, GNA- Mr Afriyie Oware, Chief Executive Officer of Axis Pension Trust, has called for a portable pension system to allow seamless transfer of benefits between Cap 30 and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) scheme.
He said the current arrangement restricted labour mobility because pension rights under Cap 30 could not be transferred to the SSNIT scheme.
Mr Oware made the call in an interview at the 2026 Pension Strategy Conference in Accra on the theme: “Renewing the Ghanaian Pension Promise: Promoting Confidence, Resilience and Sustainable Growth.”
“If you work in an organisation covered by Cap 30 and you decide to seek employment with a company under the SSNIT scheme, your benefits cannot be transferred, meaning you must join the SSNIT scheme afresh.
“What we can do is to introduce a portability or convertibility criteria. Thus, a formula to assess how much credit you have accrued,” he said.
Mr Oware noted that Article 37 of the Constitution mandated the State to provide a pension scheme for all workers in Ghana, with both employers and employees contributing towards the scheme.
He observed, however, that the Cap 30 pension system remained unfunded by beneficiaries and depended largely on taxpayers through the Consolidated Fund.
“If government is broke, it may decide to deprioritise pension benefits,” he indicated.
Mr Oware also called for a review of the formula for calculating employee contributions to SSNIT to ensure that monthly deductions were based on gross salary instead of basic salary.
He advocated an increase in contribution rates to improve retirement benefits for workers.
Mr Oware said the current contribution formula and rates reduced employee contributions and adversely affected future pension benefits.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Issah Mohammed