SSNIT assures contributors of adequate finances

The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Mr Ernest Thompson, has given the assurance that the Trust has adequate financial reserves to meet its obligations.

“The Trust has grown financially and has adequate financial reserves to meet future obligations”, he said.

Mr Thompson gave the assurance at the launch of the 50th anniversary celebrations of SSNIT at a ceremony in Accra on Monday.

 The assurance comes in the wake of agitations from contributors and actuaries about the future of the Trust as they complained about what they described as the over-exposure of SSNIT to the government.

There are arguments to the effect that while the government is not being prompt in settling the contributions of workers in the civil service, among others, it is also being supported with huge sums of money as soft loans to undertake what is termed, social projects.

According to the critics, these were threatening the sustainability of the Trust as monies meant for investment to keep the scheme going were being held up by the government.

Contributors

The present number of contributors on the scheme now stands at a little over 1.2 million according to the Director-General.

This is in spite of the growing number of institutions, particularly those in the private sector which are mandated by law to contribute to the scheme on behalf of their employees.

On a monthly basis, the Trust doles out a whopping GH¢53.5 million to a total of 148,000 pensioners across the country as against 971 pensioners as of 1992.

Aside from the assurance from the Trust regarding its financials, Mr Thompson said “aging population structure demands an increasing larger inflow of resources to cater for the elderly pensioners”.

Against this background, he warned that the current scheme could not countenance delays in contribution payment and was, therefore, intensifying sourcing for more workers to contribute to the scheme.

Jubilee projects

Mr Thompson said the Trust was undertaking what he described as ‘monumental’ community projects to commemorate the anniversary.

These are the construction of a children’s library, 40 community police stations across the country and a sports complex at Odododiodio in Accra to enhance fitness and good health while at the same time providing employment to the youth.

On the issue about the police posts, Mr Thomspon wondered why some sections of the public would criticise the move by the Trust to provide security posts for the police to enhance their visibility within the communities to check crime.

“Societies look to social security systems for their contribution to solving current and future social, economic, demographic and other challenges”, he said, and quoted the International Social Security and Association (ISSA) which said “social security is now perceived as an integral part of political strategy that seek to achieve inclusive social and productive economies”.

Mr Thompson paid glowing tribute to staff of SSNIT since its inception to date describing their actions as “selfless” and one that had propelled the Trust to its present status.

The General Manager, Special Projects of SSNIT, Rev. Kweku Osei-Bimpong, earlier announced a number of activities to crown the celebrations to include donations to needy institutions across the country; observance of customer week; a symposium and a thanksgiving service.

He explained that the choices of the activities were geared towards ensuring that the celebrations were focused and more impactful.