Tuesday, April 01, 2014

NAGRAT CRIES OVER PENSION CASH

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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