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TUC okays new pension scheme

By The Statesman
Sat, 19 Jul 2008 | Print | E-Mail | PDF | Graphics Version
Business/Finance



The 19th Session of the Executive Board of the Ghana Trades Union Congress has adopted a resolution on the New Pension Scheme prior to its 8th Quadrennial Delegates Congress slated for Kumasi next month.

The adoption of the resolution on the new retirement scheme was the outcome of efforts by policy makers to improve income security for workers in the formal and informal sectors of the economy and the consequential actions taken on the Government White Paper on the Report of the Presidential Commission on Pensions, which was submitted to the government recently.

A release signed by the acting General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Kofi Asamoah, commended government for accepting the findings of the Presidential Commission on Pensions which discovered that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust had an inherent capacity to remain a viable and sustainable entity if restructured.

It will be recalled that the Pensions Commission identified high administrative costs, poor returns on investments and relative low number of contributors, considering the size of the working population, and recommended the restructuring of SSNIT's operations.

The release said TUC looked forward to seeing an extensive and far-reaching restructuring of SSNIT, "which should include a complete overhaul of the governance, management and administrative structures of the Trust to restore confidence in members".

The Trades Union Congress further welcomed the proposed establishment of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme as well as the voluntary Third-Tier which moves to extend coverage of pensions to unprotected working Ghanaians .The Third-Tier system, policy makers say , would strongly protect the self-employed in the informal sector , the private formal sector, among other susceptible small scale areas

The proposed Three-Tier Pension Scheme under the Pensions Reform Bill, addresses the obligations of the state as stipulated under section 6 of article 37 of Ghana's Constitution.

It among other things compels the state to ensure that contributory schemes are instituted and maintained to guarantee economic security for the self-employed and other citizens.

It also obliges the state to endorse the proposed establishment of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority under the new pension law to regulate and monitor the operation of the Pension Schemes in the country and also determine a maximum limit on administrative costs, while ensuring effective administration of pension matters in the country.

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