Biometric registration :SSNIT ghost pensioners to be deleted from February 2020
Pensioners who fail to go through the Social Security and National Insurance Trust ( SSNIT) biometric re-enrolment process will have their names deleted from the trust’s payroll from February 21, 2020.
This follows several notices and reminders issued to members of the SSNIT scheme including pensioners since 2014 requesting them to register bio-metrically.
The Director-General of the trust, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, who announced the decision said management initiated the deletion of ‘ghost’ names from SSNIT pensions payroll in 2018.
That decision, he said saved the scheme GH₵ 62 million as at November 2019.
“Pensioners who do not register now and have their names deleted will only be restored if they register biometrically,” he said at a training session for focal persons of the trust in Koforidua.
With pensioners often left angry about the tedious bureaucratic process involved in getting what is due them, the SSNIT boss said workers who retire today are assured of receiving their benefits within 16 days.
“If you retire today we will pay you within a maximum of 16 days once your financial records are accurate. In fact, some people have even received their pensions within three days’’
The training is aimed at deepening the understanding of some selected participates to the scheme’s operations and the value the scheme provides.
This marked the final session for the 2019 training of focal persons.
Addressing participants at the event, the Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang reiterated the benefits of the scheme.
“This program will offer you the opportunity to learn more about your rights and responsibilities as an SSNIT Member. With this understanding, you, and the people you are representing, can better engage your employers to pay your contributions to the correct salaries and on time’’.
The training programme has already been held in 22 locations across the country with some 1,282 people participating.
Low compliance rate
According to Dr Tenkorang, low level of compliance by employers is a threat to the sustainability of the scheme.
“One of the issues that can negatively affect our ability to continue paying pensions is failure by employers to pay workers contributions regularly.
“Often, less than 50 per cent of employers pay their workers’ contributions by the 14th of the ensuing month which is the deadline for contributions payment”.
He, therefore, charged the participants to impress on their employers to pay promptly to avoid needless penalties and court actions.
“I encourage you to partner us in ensuring we safeguard your right to pension. Keep prompting your employers to pay your contributions regularly to avoid needless penalties/interests and court actions”.
Low pensions
The Director-General stated emphatically that low pensions are not a creation of SSNIT explaining that “what you put in determines what you get” adding that “the pension the SSNIT scheme pays is predetermined.
“ All the factors that determine how much one receives as benefits all depend on you, the member. So, the inputs, such as the age at which one retires, the average of three years’ best salaries and the number of months’ contributions have been paid are entirely from you, the worker/employer’’, he said.
He maintained that pensions are a direct reflection of salaries earned, and on which contributions were paid.
“Members of the scheme will, therefore, earn higher benefits if contributions are paid on high salaries,” he said.