Per the move, pensioners 72 years and above will be considered as ‘ghosts’ hence will not be able to access their claims.

All pensioners are expected to renew their pension certificates annually to warrant payment of their monthly benefits from SSNIT.

The Head of Corporate Affairs at SSNIT, Victoria Gifty Abaidoo tells Citi Business News the directive should help in reducing unwarranted payments due to ‘ghost’ names.

“We want to purge our systems and also know that all those that all the people we are paying are still alive and we are paying them. So what we are saying is that we are giving everybody the opportunity till the end of January 2018,” she explained.

Mrs Abaidoo added, “From the 1^st of February, if you have not done your biometric registration and used that to renew your pensioners’ certificate, then the assumption is that you are no more and that we will have to delete your name from our pension payroll.”

The move comes days after the announcement of a ten percent rise in the minimum pension payment to beneficiaries.

According to SSNIT, the increase is to improve the welfare of contributors currently on pension.

Public sector payroll sanitized through SSNIT biometric system

A similar biometric exercise was carried out in the public sector in 2016 which led to the initial expulsion of some 23,029 names in April 2017 for failing to heed the original deadline scheduled for February 2017.

Several appeals led to the extension of the deadline and their subsequent inclusion in the public sector payroll.

At the time, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta stressed that the exercise is to ensure that no salaries are paid for no work done.

It also formed part of moves to protect the public purse.

The exercise, coupled with another one which involved the removal of ghost names, has been estimated to save the country some 250 million cedis.

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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

The post SSNIT moves to clear ‘ghost’ pensioners from payroll appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Mr Heno, who is a former secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools said the developments at SSNIT indicates that the company is in a good position to review pensions upwards.

[contextly_sidebar id=”5wJbzwtLM0VcfMyZOrFXkx6zNXCveIS4″]“We are not happy about what is happening at all. It is our money and they have to make sure they manage it very well so that at least every year we can get an upward adjustment. But from what we hear, it means that they are not giving us what is due to us if you can allegedly bloat an amount of a country,” he told Richard Sky on Eyewitness News.

“I’m sure that pensioners will from now decide that they should increase our money by 100% if money can be used recklessly the way it is being used,” he added.

It emerged last week that SSNIT had undertaken a project meant to network all of its branches across the country to enable them to receive real-time data directly from the headquarters in Accra and enhance efficiency at a cost of $66m which later increase to $72m.

The amount was ballooned from an initial contract sum of $34m.

Many have suspected that the deal was overpriced and has generated a lot of backlash from the public.

Mr. Hianu said pensioners are expecting that a thorough investigation is carried out into the matter and believes officials who are found complicit in the deal must be punished.

“Those who violated the laid down regulations must be held accountable because how can the management decide to enter into a contract without the blessings of the board.

He said pensioners will need to convene an emergency meeting to agree on key demands to be made to SSNIT.

We [pensioners] have to convene an emergency meeting so they put in a claim to demand an upward adjustment of the pensions and also a detailed account statement of how their monies are being used.

Support calls for a forensic auditing of SSNIT’s account to ensure transparency.

Mr Hianu said possible proposals that may come up at the meeting include a call for the scraping of SSNIT.

“We are peeved as a matter of fact. Because we are not getting anything at all. We demand that our leaders a thorough briefing as to what our monies are being used for and briefing on what the malfeasance is about.

We will decide the way forward and one of it may be that we scrap it,” he said.

About 5 people are currently being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for their involvement in the implementation of the project.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post SSNIT scandal: Pensioners demand full account of spendings appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.