Rene Senyo Kwamikorkor flanked by other regional executives
Posted on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The National Association of Graduate Teachers
(NAGRAT) has accused the government of keeping the pension contributions of
teachers without any justification.
“Since 2008 the government has been taking our
pension contributions but it is yet to remit the Ghana Educations Service (GES)
trustees.”
It will be recalled that in December last year when
workers expressed worry about the safety of the 2nd Tier Mandatory Occupational
Pension Scheme, lodged at the Bank of Ghana into a Temporary Pension Fund
Account (TPFA), the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) who are
managers of the fund came out boldly to quell rumours that the authority was
not working in the interest of workers.
The NPRA headed by Sam Pee Yelley at the time said
it had engaged with SSNIT who collects the contributions and pays into the TPFA
and also FirstBanc Financial Services Limited i.e. the Fund Administrator, who
provides data management function and not responsible for managing the funds of
the TPFA and said the three bodies were working closely to validate the data
and records to reconcile all contributions made by employers so far, for the
necessary auditing to be undertaken.
However, at a news conference in Accra held by the
Greater Accra branch of NAGRAT to bring to the public domain pertinent issues
affecting them, the teachers directed the government to remit the funds to the
trustees without delay or face their wrath.
Rene Senyo Kwamikorkor, Greater Accra Regional Chairman
of NAGRAT who addressed the media said the new Pension Law enacted in 2008
mandates the government to remit contributions of teachers to fund managers for
investment.
Flanked by other regional executives, he said it was
anticipated that teachers will get a better pension starting from 2015 when
workers starts to enjoy enhanced pension but the government has refused to
remit the contributions.
“We feel government is toying with our pension and
we are calling on governments as a matter of urgency to remit all our pension
contributions in its possession to GES trustees to manage in order to prevent industrial
action which our members at the grassroot are yearning for.”
NAGRAT warned that “if government fails, we will use
all legitimate means to make sure that government comply with the dictates of
the law.”
Mr. Kwamikorkor also said that NAGRAT had in their
possession, a letter signed by the Minister of Finance directing the Ministry
of Education to ensure that salary arrears with respect to recruitment, promotion
and re-activation of staff should not exceed three months.
He said for peace and harmony to prevail, NAGRAT was
giving the Ministry up to the end of April, 2014 to withdraw the said letter.
He said the non-payment of incremental credit and
vehicle maintenance allowance was affecting their members in spite of the fact
that when the issue came up last year, the Chief of Staff held a meeting with
all the stakeholders at the presidency and promised to work on it but never
did.
“Government always reneges on its promises when it
comes to issues concerning teachers and it beats our imagination, we do not
understand why.
We are entitled to these allowances and we will use all legal
means at our disposal to make sure that we get what is due us.”
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