President of the Sports Callers Association of Ghana, Joseph Nkoo, has advised the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to ensure that the over 70,000 footballers under it are enrolled with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) schemes.
The GFA, through a recent artwork, claimed its leagues employ a total of 70,672 players, giving the breakdown as Premier League (1,019), Division One League (2,353), second and third division league (43,700), Women’s Premier League (600) and juvenile league (23,000).
According to Nkoo, once the players are documented at the appropriate quarters, it would go a long way to help speed up the GFA’s request for government’s financial support in future.
“I personally know that GFA President Mr Kurt Okraku has registered all his players at Dreams FC onto the SSNIT Pension Scheme, but he has to ensure the rest of the clubs do same for their players,” he said.
The Sports Callers chief said the FA would put itself in good light once it ensured that all players under its association were duly registered with SSNIT and the GRA.
“If for nothing at all, the FA must demonstrate that it has the future of their workers (footballers) at heart by compelling clubs to do the needful.”
Nkoo, who is the National Coordinator of the SSNIT Player Registration, has also appealed to owners of football clubs in the Premier and Division One Leagues (DOL) to “update, reactivate and register” their clubs with SSNIT as required by the Act of Parliament, 2008, Act 766.
He said the SSNIT contribution was mandatory and not optional, and cautioned club owners not to “take things for granted.”
BY JOHN VIGAH
