By Bajin D. Pobia, GNA
Wa, Aug. 19, GNA – The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori- Tenkorang, has urged income earners to complement their SSNIT pension insurance with other credible schemes to enjoy adequate benefits upon retirement.
He observed that SSNIT had become synonymous with pension in Ghana, which should not be the case.
Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang said this during an interview with the media on the sidelines of stakeholders’ consultation meeting on pension issues in Wa.
He explained that SSNIT was only one piece of the pension puzzle and cited the National Pensions Act 2008, Act 766, which introduced the three-tier pension scheme to provide other avenues for workers to better their pensions.
He said SSNIT managed only the First Tier of the scheme, while the Tier two and three schemes were managed by Corporate Trustees.
He said the SSNIT Scheme was very generous and urged workers to take full advantage of the three-tier pension scheme, which provided tax exemption to enable them to receive enhanced benefits when they retired.
Mr Joshua Ansah, the Deputy Secretary-General of the TUC, commended the management of SSNIT for the continuous engagements with stakeholders.
He said SSNIT operations was previously perceived to be shrouded in secrecy but through continuous engagements with stakeholders, workers were gradually becoming more informed about the scheme.
He said the conversation about low pensions would soon become a thing of the past because the higher the basic salaries, the more enhanced pensions would be.
The TUC’s Deputy Secretary–General urged workers to find out who their Corporate Trustees were and make follow up on their contributions and check their statements regularly.
He entreated workers to take full advantage of the engagements to help educate more workers.
Mr Ibrahim Wemah, the Upper West Regional Chairman of the TUC, in an address, urged the participants to ask questions to gain better understanding and clarity of the scheme.
GNA