The President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) has voiced great worry over the International Labour Organization (ILO) recent report on the depletion of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust’s (SSNIT) financial reserves.
Rev. Isaac Owusu emphasized that this report should frighten all workers in the country because it represents a huge danger to SSNIT’s financial promises to its beneficiaries.
According to the ILO assessment, SSNIT’s reserves are expected to be totally drained by 2036, based on their actuarial value.
SSNIT began as a Provident Fund that covered accidents, old age, disability, and death before transitioning to a Social Insurance Pension Scheme administered by PNDC legislation 247 in 1991.
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Since then, SSNIT has played an important role in providing financial security for retirees, covering around 1.6 million Ghanaians, or roughly 16% of the country’s workforce as of 2020.
However, in recent years, the administrative costs of operating pension funds have progressively increased, taking a greater amount of member payments.
This tendency raises questions regarding the effectiveness with which the funds are used to benefit the beneficiaries.
According to the research, from 2008 to 2020, the average return on total assets was 12.2%, with a real average return on assets of only 0.9% after accounting for inflation.
Rev. Owusu responded to this event on JoyNews’ AM Show on Monday, April 29, urging the government to take quick steps to reinvigorate SSNIT.
He also urged Ghanaian workers to campaign for their future, stating that failing to address this issue might have serious ramifications for them in the future.
“I think the report from the ILO to the board of trustees of SSNIT should be of great concern to every worker in Ghana because the report reveals certain things that as workers we should be concerned about.”
“Apart from the government’s indebtedness, the second revelation is about the prudent investment that SSNIT ought to make.
“The third one which affects the worker and the worker must be concerned is the insurance earning which is very, very low and if you juxtapose these three revelations, it tells you that as workers we must be interested and concerned of this particular report.”
