Advisory C'tees On Pension

THE Pension Reform Implementation Committee (PRIC) has set up five advisory sub- committees to serve as task forces for carrying out specific assignments by the committee.

Mr. T. A. Bediako, Chairman of the PRIC, announced this at a media orientation seminar on the pension reform scheme in Accra on Tuesday, and explained that the move is to ensure the full participation of other major stakeholders. The five sub-committees will handle the legal aspects of the reforms, restructuring of the SSNIT CAP 30, the informal sector, as well as administrative and public relations, respectively.

Mr. Bediako stated that the major task of the PRIC is to implement the recommendations of the Presidential Commission on Pensions, adding that the actual work is being done by the relevant ministries, departments and agencies.

He said the media orientation is the first in a series of meetings planned, and added that the PRIC has a comprehensive programme for sensitising all stakeholders on the new three-tier pension structure.

The project consultant to the PRIC, Daniel Aidoo Mensah, said a new Pension Reform Bill that will give legal backing to all the recommendations of the Pensions Commission requiring the passage of laws, will be ready for passing into law before the end of the year.

He indicated that the proposed Pension Regulatory Authority will within five years after coming into effect of the new pension system, achieve unification of all pension schemes in the country.

Mr. Mensah, said the PRIC has been tasked to undertake a comprehensive study to facilitate the setting up of social insurance scheme for the informal sector which constituted the largest proportion of the country’s workforce.

'The government is also considering a national policy for the aged, which among other things, will provide certain social benefits such as free or substantially subsidised transportation cost, free medical treatment, reduced tickets to public and social events for all senior citizens,' he said.

In July 2004, following agitations and protests by some public sector workers on the SSNIT scheme demanding to be placed on the CAP 30 scheme which was considered more favourable, the government, constituted a nine-member Presidential Commission on Pensions to examine existing pension arrangements and make appropriate recommendations for a sustainable pension scheme.