In the quest to provide an adequate and reliable social security for the Ghanaian worker, the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) was created under the Social Security Act, 1991 (PNDC L 247) with the mandate of providing social protection for the working population and their dependants in respect of contingencies such as old age, invalidity, and death before retirement.
Before the creation of SSNIT the pension scheme that existed was put in place by a British Colonial Ordinance popularly referred to as CAP 30. The passage of PNDC L 247 did not revoke this scheme. Consequently, there are two pension schemes currently in place in Ghana.
In terms of who administers CAP 30 there is no department like SSNIT directly responsible for its administration. Administration of the CAP 30 pension scheme is done by the Controller and Accountant-General's Department.
Although these schemes have been in existence for many decades now, Ghanaian workers in both formal and informal sectors have consistently complained about the appalling state of pension governance in the country. Some of these complaints range from difficulty in accessing pension benefits, to reliability and insufficiency of pension benefits.
In an attempt to address the state of pension in Ghana and to respond to workers' concerns, the government in August 2004 inaugurated a nine-member Presidential Pension Commission charged with the responsibility of examining the existing two pension arrangements and make appropriate recommendations for a sustainable and fair pension scheme that will ensure adequate retirement security for the Ghanaian worker.
The Commission submitted its report in March 2006 and the main recommendation was the creation of a new contributory three-tier pension scheme for Ghana to replace existing parallel pension scheme. It comprises two mandatory schemes and a voluntary scheme. The Government accepted almost all the recommendations of the Commission and issued a White Paper on it in July 2006. It also appointed a Committee called the Pension Reform Implementation Committee (PRIC) to implement the recommendations in the White Paper.
The recommendations of the Commission sought to increase the quantum of pensions in Ghana and improve the administration of pensions in Ghana. In addition to the issue of adequacy of pensions is the manner in which pensions are administered in Ghana i.e. the governance structures. And this is what this activity sought to look at.
The objective of the activity was to provide a platform of the PRIC and other stakeholders to look closely at the issue of good governance in the administration of pensions with the aim of contributing to the implementation of the reform of governance in the administration of pensions in Ghana.
There were three presentations on the topic from the different perspectives of PRIC, SSNIT and Organised Labour. After the third presentation, there was a moderated discussion at which conclusion and recommendations were made.
The presentation by the chair of the PRIC touched on various issues.
The target group for this activity were members of the PRIC, the SSNIT, Organised Labour, civil society organisations, Ministries, Departments, Agencies and other stakeholders in pension's administration. The PRIC was advised to factor the legal effective of constitutional provision that dealt with the pensions of certain categories of public officers in their worker.
Participants concluded that there was the need for the intensification of educational campaigns on the issue of pension reforms. The participants recommended that the human capacities for the administrators of pensions must be undertaken. Participants also called for the speedy implementation of the reforms.
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