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Trust government with your pension - Haruna appeals to workers

By MyJoyOnline
General News Trust government with your pension - Haruna appeals to workers
OCT 24, 2014 LISTEN

Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu is counseling workers to invest their trust in government rather than in a union or a scheme.

Gripped by the fear of the unknown, the minister told striking public sector workers that government wants to be part of the operationalization of their second tier pension scheme because it wants to guarantee the future of pensioners.

“Government wants to guarantee the risk of unforeseen future risk,” he told the media on Friday as the public sector strike enters day three.

"If you cannot trust government, who can you trust," he asked.

Twelve public sector groups, known as the Forum, declared an indefinite strike starting on Wednesday to pile pressure on the government to allow the unions to manage their second tier pension schemes.

Some workers had also suspected that government is taking an entrenched position because it has misapplied the fund.

“The Temporary Pension Fund is with the Bank of Ghana,” Haruna Iddrisu assured, stressing, “No monies have been disbursed from the Temporary Pension Fund to any entity as being wickedly and maliciously claimed by some people.”

Making reference to unfortunate incidents in countries such as Chile, Spain and South Africa, he insisted that government is concerned about the future risk if the various unions are allowed to manage the scheme.

“You will not know whether the monies would be managed well or well,” he cautioned.

“You can trust government, government is government, it probably may not be my government today but a future government, but it is government” he emphasised.

“Is it not better to entrust your future in the hands of government than a union worker or a union leader who himself may be due for retirement.”

He assured that government would put in place the appropriate systems to predict future risk that may be associated with the fund and also ensure that the fund is “judiciously used”.

For now, he reiterated, the monies are with the Bank of Ghana, with the Governor as the custodian. The monies are being invested in treasury bills and have “yielded very good returns”, he said.

Workers had also entertained fears that colleagues who are due for retirement in January 2015 would be disadvantaged if no agreement is reached, but the Employment Minister asserted that their retirement package is assured.

Haruna Iddrisu has also made a passionate appeal to workers to resume work and return to the negotiation table, hoping every doubt would be cleared and issues resolved before the end of November.

Meanwhile, the minister announced that government has lodged a complaint with the National Labour Commission because the strike contravenes Act 651 of the Labour Act because the failed to notify government of their intention to strike. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com| Isaac Essel | [email protected] | twitter @isaacessel

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