SSNIT to fast-track pension payment

20/11/20

Story: Musah Yahaya Jafaru
THE Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) says it is moving into a new phase that would ensure the payment of retirement benefits to pensioners, one month after going on retirement.
This, according to the Director General of SSNIT, Dr Frank Odoom, would ease the burden of pensioners who have to hustle for several months without receiving their retirement benefits.
Reviewing the operations of SSNIT at the sixth SSNIT stakeholders forum in Accra, Mr Odoom added that SSNIT would diversify its investment portfolio by focusing more on social and utility services.
Issues raised by employers and employees at the forum included delays in the payment of pension benefits, incomplete statements on contributions and the lack of information on the SSNIT contribution for the second tier of the new pension scheme.
Mr Odoom said workers were used to taking monthly salaries, and therefore, could be disturbing if after retirement, they had to struggle for months before they receive their pension benefits.
Therefore, he said, SSNIT was developing the technology to ensure that data on SSNIT contribution was processed fast enough to ensure that beneficiaries are paid “one month after submitting claims”.
Mr Odoom expressed worry that some employers underdeclared the salaries of their employees in order to contribute less.
He, therefore, asked employers ”to be fair to their workers by paying the right contributions”.
The Chairman of Board of Trustees of SSNIT, Mr Kwame Peprah, said with the new pension scheme, the SSNIT contribution had reduced from 17 per cent to 11 per cent.
However, he said, SSNIT was required to pay more benefits despite the reduction in the contribution.
Therefore, Mr Peprah said, SSNIT should desist from investing in areas that would not yield more returns.
He said SSNIT intended to offer modern and state-of-the-art service to beneficiaries through the use of modern technology to access information on contribution and receive pension benefits.