The leadership of the Ghana Federation of Labor has ostensibly passed a vote of no confidence in the running of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), following the scandal concerning the bloated $72 million spent on Operational Business Suite (OBS).
The Federation in a statement said this scandal was only “one of the symptoms of the malaise plaguing SSNIT and rendering the scheme unsustainable.”
[contextly_sidebar id=”ptWooHyytXknEbYml2rJj6xeu2kq7md7”]The GFL leadership said it shudders at the consequences of the imminent collapse of the scheme, as some industry watchers have warned, and it is “mindful of the serious financial and social crises.”
The SSNIT Board has contracted PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct an audit into the bloated OBS contract, but the GFL notes that, “even though the management has instituted a forensic audit into SSNIT operations, we observe with disquiet, evidence of profligate expenditure and opulence being displayed again.”
As an example of this profligacy, the Federation cited the advertisement by SSNIT, published in the Ghanaian Times of June 16, 2017, inviting tenders for the supply of luxury executive diaries, luxury desk diaries, deluxe luxury slim pocket diaries, among others, for the year 2018.
It described this development as worrying and said: “these happenings and the philanthropic gesture of SSNIT Management towards non-members of the scheme blatantly defeats the purpose for which the SSNIT was established.”
Findings of 2001 audit
The GFL, in its statement said it had been made aware of a forensic audit of SSNIT operations conducted in 2001.
This audit reportedly revealed “gross mismanagement of the Fund and therefore demand the publication of the report and implementation of the recommendations contained therein,” according to the GFL.
“While awaiting the result of the another inquiry to unearth yet another heinous conspiracy to fleece SSNIT, we demand of government to recognize the ownership of the fund and act to halt the menace in the interest of national security and economic growth,” the Fedaration added.
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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana