By Dennis Peprah
Sunyani, May 03, GNA – The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has given a 14-day ultimatum to some informal sector establishments to register and pay the tier three contributions of their employees, or face prosecution.
According to the nation’s pensions regulatory body, the institutions, all in the Sunyani Municipality, including a Goil Filling Station, had since 2019 defaulted in the payment of contributions, contrary to the National Pensions Act 2008 (Act 766).
They comprise the Pribet Shopping Mart, a shopping mall, CASBE International School, BACSOD, a Catholic cooperative credit union and a Goil filling station situated opposite the Sunyani Jubilee Park.
The Authority, however lauded the Management of the J Adom Limited, a Sunyani-based Road construction and quarry production firm for its compliance to, particularly, the tier-three pensions and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributions.
Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of an enforcement exercise conducted by the Authority in Sunyani, Mr Williams Ohene-Adjei, Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Zonal Head of the NPRA, regretted that the Companies failed to comply despite the numerous notices served them.
The Authority in collaboration with some of its trustees conducted the exercise, which according to Mr Ohene-Adjei was to appreciate the contributions of the informal sector employees by ensuring that their employers complied and paid their contributions, as the nation marked the Workers Day celebration.
Mr Ohene-Adjei said the authority had piloted and would undertake the enforcement exercise randomly and periodically, saying defaulting employers would be prosecuted.
He explained the NPRA had prioritised and was working hard to ensure that many informal sector workers in the country register and benefit from the tier-three pensions to provide them with an assured retirement income security.
Mr Ohene-Adjei therefore advised informal sector employees to check and remind their employers to pay their monthly contributions and inspired them to inform the authority about “recalcitrant” employers who failed to pay their contributions.
“Do not fear to report them. Your confidentiality is always guaranteed and remember that you are doing so in your own interest,” he stated.
At J Adom Limited, Mr Mohammed Mubarak Ampofo, the financial controller, told the GNA the company had since 2019 paid about GHC102,813.37 contributions of employees into the tier-tier, saying “we are inspired to do so because we are all employees and will retire one-day”.
The situation was however contrary at the CASBE International School, as some of the employees, including the accountant and the headmistress of the school, were not up and doing.
Tempers flared up when the headmistress of the school, an expat employee, who declined to mention her name, challenged authority to always remind defaulting employers to pay the monthly contributions of their employees, while some personnel of the authority insisted payments were mandatory.
GNA