The Ghana Federation of Labour says Organised Labour is embarrassed by the scandal that has rocked the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
Even though the SSNIT Board has caused a forensic investigation into the scandal which has been a subject of public discussions in the last two weeks, the Ghana Federation of Labour maintains that labour must get competent people to represent its interest on the SSNIT Board.
The General Secretary of the Federation, Abraham Koomson, told Citi News that, “as organized labour, we cannot defend what has happened because it is very embarrassing to us. Going forward, we must make sure that we nominate qualified people, knowledgeable people not necessarily the Secretary General to be part of the board of Trustees. We have to make them understand that periodically we have to revert to the labour structures for us to understand what goes on there.”
The board of Trustees of the SSNIT includes representatives of Organized Labour.
SSNIT is being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for blowing $72 million on procuring and installing a software and other hardware systems known as the Operational Business Suite (OBS) in a bid to digitize the Trust.
The cost, which was originally $34 million, later ballooned to $66 million and then to $72 million due to maintenance and additional infrastructure, and the variation was approved by the Trust’s board.
The new Board Chairman of SSNIT, Kwame Addo Kufuor, in an earlier interview with Citi News, said about 15 people had already appeared before EOCO as witnesses in the matter.
SSNIT has also contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit into the contract.
The Ghana Federation of Labour is calling for a complete restructuring of the Trust to avert any such scandals in the future.
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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana