SSNIT urged to increase pensioners’ annual bonus

Mr. Yaw Ofori Debrah, a concerned retiree, has appealed to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to increase the yearly bonus to pensioners as a shield against the country’s deteriorating economic situation.

He said the SSNIT offered its pension beneficiaries a bonus increment of about nine to 10 percent of their contributed funds at the start of each year, but the country’s present economic situation necessitated an increase in the amount.

Mr. Debrah told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that “a lot of people on SSNIT pension fall within the range of Gh¢300 to Gh¢2000 and you could imagine what they face in this escalating economic hardship.”

He said retirees were financially constrained because many of them, in their advanced age, had to rely on taxis for mobility or would always have to go with Aides, access to medication, and then food.

“So, just like the government supported public workers in this economic crisis with the Cost-of-Living Allowance (COLA), the SSNIT must replicate such an act.

“Give pensioners some kind of top up to cope with the financial circumstances of the day before the year ends to support mobility and medication of the aged and weak pensioners.”

Mr. Debrah also stated that pensioners were entitled to benefits because their monies contributed to the SSNIT investment and must thus reap the benefits.

“Our monies are still in investment, and they give us part of it every month. It means our money is supporting the course of SSNIT investment. So, so long as they get yields of the investment, they should give us something higher on the yields of the investment our money has been giving us,” he said.

The SSNIT is a statutory body established under the National Pensioners Act 2008 Act 766 to handle the first tier of the three-tiered pension scheme.