By Frank Kwame Abbor
Ho, June 13, GNA – Madam Rosina Akrofi, Corporate Affairs, Education and Sensitisation Officer of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), has urged workers in the informal sector to prepare adequately for retirement, stressing that children should not be regarded as pension plans.
Addressing participants at NPRA’s “Pension on Wheels” community dialogue programme held at the Ahoe Community Development Centre in Ho on June 11, Madam Akrofi said many Ghanaians entered old age without financial security because they relied solely on family support instead of making deliberate retirement plans.
Sharing personal experience, she recounted the story of her late mother, a trader at Makola Market, who continued trading into her late seventies because it was the only livelihood she had known throughout her life.
According to her, when the family persuaded her mother to stop trading and remain at home, she became unhappy despite receiving food, medicine and other necessities from her children.
Madam Akrofi said her mother’s greatest concern was not the lack of care but the absence of personal income.
“She told me that all her life she had handled money every day and could not imagine living without having something in her purse to spend or even give out to others,” she said.
She explained that after she began giving her mother a monthly allowance from her salary, her outlook changed completely.
“My mother regained her confidence, became happier and more active. That experience taught me that financial independence is closely linked to dignity and wellbeing in old age,” she stated.
Madam Akrofi noted that many elderly people suffered emotional and financial difficulties because they had no regular source of income after retirement.
She therefore encouraged workers, especially traders, artisans, farmers, drivers, hairdressers and seamstresses, to enrol onto pension schemes while they were still economically active.
She explained that the voluntary Tier Three pension scheme was specifically designed for workers in the informal sector and allowed contributors to build retirement savings through flexible contributions.
The scheme, she said, created both retirement and savings accounts, enabling contributors to access portions of their savings under approved conditions while securing their future income.
Madam Akrofi further assured participants that the scheme was regulated by the NPRA and managed by licensed trustees, unlike fraudulent investment schemes that had caused financial losses to many Ghanaians in the past.
She urged participants to take advantage of the opportunity to register and begin contributing towards their retirement.
The programme formed part of the NPRA’s nationwide effort to expand pension coverage among informal sector workers through public education and on-the-spot enrolment.
Togbe Kasa III, Chief of Ahoe, also encouraged participants to embrace pension schemes and cautioned against relying solely on family support in old age.
“It is time for people in the informal sector to move away from depending on their children for food, medicine and clothing in old age,” he said.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/Kenneth Odeng Adade