The Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana, Dr Yaw Baah, has reiterated the union’s calls on the government to rectify the “unfairness and discrimination” in the implementation of the three-tier pension scheme and adjust upwards the low lump-sum benefits of pensioners.
The TUC said pensioners were being shortchanged in terms of the lump sums they received, adding that the situation, including the miscomputation of Past Credit by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), was worrying and would not be allowed to continue.
He indicated that workers who retired from January 2020 were worse-off as they were receiving lump sums way lower than what they would have received from SSNIT had they retired under PNDC Law 247 – which required SSNIT to pay 25-per cent lump sum to contributors.
Dr Baah, who was speaking at a regional forum on pensions in Tema, called on the government to engage stakeholders to address the anomaly and make the pensions scheme more sustainable.
The forum, organised by the TUC in partnership with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, sought to, among other objectives, sensitise members to pension reforms in Ghana, overview and implementation of Act 766, which introduced the three-tier pension scheme.
He said there had been a series of attempts, albeit unsuccessful, to get the government to convene a stakeholders’ meeting to address the concerns and related issues of pensioners.
Dr Baah added that there was some discrimination in the payment of pensions, which ought to be adequately addressed, explaining that the reforms that led to the current pension scheme was not being implemented appropriately to address the concerns of workers and pensioners.
He, therefore, called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, convene a stakeholders’ dialogue to further discuss ways of addressing the “unfair, unjust and discriminatory” treatment being meted out to pensioners and ultimately strengthen the pension scheme.
Mr Reynolds Ofosu Tenkorange, General Secretary, Health Services Workers’ Union of the TUC, advised Ghanaian workers to prepare adequately towards pension and reap the benefits thereof.
He reiterated the need for the government to organise a stakeholders’ forum to address the challenges workers were confronted with, particularly to ensure that pensioners got what was suitably due them.
GNA
