The Industrial and Labour court has rejected the Bank of Ghana’s (BoG) attempt to be second defendants in a case between twelve labour unions and government over the management of their pensions funds.
[contextly_sidebar id=”62QJdWvLt5nQGeLGCxzwrMgQ5dmr9xOR”]According to the ruling by Justice Kwaku Gyan, allowing the BoG as a defendant in the case will constitute an “abuse of the court.”
He further indicated that the laws governing the pension funds do not give the BoG any mandate to manage the funds deposited with them.
The labour unions filed a counter-claim against the Bank of Ghana over the second-tier pensions after government dragged the 12 members to court over their intended industrial action last year.
In their counter-claim, the labour unions prayed the court to enjoin the Bank of Ghana to disclose the exact amount in its custody.
However, counsel for the Bank Samuel Codjoe told the court that the National Pensions Act does not give it the power to access and invest the funds.
Mr. Cudjoe told the court it is only the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) that has the power to access and invest the funds, praying the court to direct the labour unions to find answer to the exact amount accrued from NPRA.
Labour Union/ gov’t brouhaha
On Wednesday,22 October, 2014 various labour unions embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the delay in the release of their tier two pensions into a private account.
They were also challenging the Ministry of Finance’s decision to use Pension Alliance Trust as a sole trustee of the second tier pension schemes for all employees on government payroll.
Though the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu earlier kicked against the decision by labour unions to strike, describing it as unnecessary and unlawful, the strike was fully implemented by some labour groups.
Government subsequently sued the labour unions, praying the court to among others,rule on the rightful trustee responsible for managing the tier two pension’s funds of public workers.
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By: Fred Djabanor/Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana