Governance think tank, IMAN Ghana has charged the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to be more proactive in sanitizing the country’s payroll in the wake of the suspension of salaries of some public sector workers.
The Ministry of Finance was forced to direct the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD) to suspend the payment of salaries of hundreds of public sector workers without social security numbers.
[contextly_sidebar id=”LBbgvxyIa8UU8OUm2zy12zDXrBUMxvTI”]The Ministry says salaries of the affected employees can only be restored after thorough investigations.
It thus advised employees to submit the social security information to their respective Personnel Processing Sections (PPSs) before the deadline of 12th June, 2015 to avoid the deletion of their names from the payroll.
IMANI Ghana however insists SSNIT ought to do more.
President of IMANI Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe in an interview with Citi News commended the Finance Ministry for taking steps to sanitize the public payroll saying, “I think the Ministry is doing its work right now and I think it’s in order.”
He however questioned why workers who have been employed by the government are being asked to submit their SSNIT numbers because according to him, “presumably in the public sector, there is no way you can be on the pay roll without having a SSNIT number.”
Franklin Cudjoe expressed worry that some individuals who have been employed to work in the public sector do not have SSNIT numbers.
“I don’t think a country that has about 600,000 public sector workers; it’s just a third or a quarter of them with SSNIT numbers…so it looks to me that SSNIT also needs to do its work well,” he remarked.
The IMANI boss argued that such a situation is “not right and I think we need to do something about it.”
He was of the view that anybody working in a public institution must have SSNIT numbers so asking some workers to submit their numbers is indicative that SSNIT “must be up and doing.”
“I think SSNIT needs to be much more discerning other than spending our money in wasteful investments.”
By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @ osamidan