Posted
on: www.dailyguideghana.com
By
William Yaw Owusu
Wednesday,
July 05, 2017
The Forum for Public Sector Registered Pension Schemes has given
the government up to the end of July to resolve all outstanding issues
regarding the Tier Two Pension Scheme or face their wrath.
According to the forum, since 2010 when the scheme commenced,
government has about 80 months’ arrears of their five percent monthly
deductions to be paid into their respective custodian fund managers.
The forum said the government should transfer all contributions
deducted from January 2010 to 31st August 2016, including penalties
as required by law, and also asked the National Pension Regulatory Authority
(NPRA) to ensure that the terms of settlement filed by the government and the
forum at the High Court in February 2016 are complied with by all the parties.
The Forum is made up of Unions and Associations including the
Health Service Workers’ Union, Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives
Association, Ghana Medical Association, Ghana Physicians Assistants
Association, Ghana Hospital Pharmacists Association and the Ghana Association
of Certified Registered Anesthetists.
The rest include the Ghana National Association of Teachers,
Teachers and Educational Workers Union of Ghana Trades Union Congress, the
National Association of Graduate Teachers, the Coalition of Concerned Teachers,
Ghana and the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, Ghana and the
Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana.
At a news conference in Accra yesterday, Isaac Bampoe-Addo, who is
the Chairman of the forum, bemoaned the attitude of the National Pensions
Regulatory Authority (NPRA) in addressing their concerns.
“As indicated, the 2nd Tier Scheme is a defined contributions
Scheme and in order to increase the retirement income for workers, the funds
deducted would have to be invested prudently and timeously. NPRA by its conduct has held up funds in the
TPFA which is yielding no returns.”
They claimed the NPRA had “refused to forward to government a
second option of indebtedness to enable government take a decision as to the
way forward in spite of clear directives from the minister in-charge of
pensions.”
According to the forum, in 2014, the National Pensions Act, 2008
(Act 766) was amended by National Pensions Act, 2014 (Act 883) and the
amendment reverted some workers back to the social security law, 1991 – PNDCL
247 and also changed the formula that had been established by SSNIT scheme.
“The effect of this change has resulted into the payment of reduced
benefits to the contributors,” adding “again it has generated a problem as to
how to handle the extra 1% deductions made on behalf of those workers, who have
been reverted to the social security law 1991 (PNDCL 247) by the National
Pensions Amendment Act, 2014 (Act 883).”
The forum also said that it “has an axe to grind with the managers
of the SSNIT Scheme because they are using an early retirement reduction factor
of up to 40% lump sum and an annuity factor of 41.9% without any legal basis to
compute benefits to the detriment of members of the scheme.”
They said further that instead of going by the law and computing
the minimum pension using 50 percent of the average annual salary for the three
best years of a member during their working life, SSNIT is using monthly
salaries as the basis of calculation.”
The forum insisted that NPRA, as a regulator “has the onerous
responsibility to ensure that the Temporary Pensions Fund Account (TPFA) at the
Bank of Ghana into which deductions of workers in the public sector were
deposited has been audited.”
“The audit of the TPFA accounts has not been done to pave the way
for the disbursement of funds accrued since 1st January, 2010 to 31st August
2016 to be paid to the custodians of the four public sector schemes.”
They said “the government is sitting aloof, and seems unconcerned
about the delay of the transfer of monthly deductions to the custodians of our
occupational pension schemes.”
The forum accused NPRA of allegedly “not ensuring the determination
of an appropriate and acceptable past credit in respect of contributors who by
the new Act are to claim their lump sums from the occupational pension schemes
after they have made contributions for several years to the SSNIT Scheme.”
They also said that the Ministry of Finance was trying to assume
oversight responsibility over pensions when it was supposed to be managed by
the Ministry of Employment, adding that “the Minister of Finance cannot amend
an Act of Parliament with a budget statement as he did.”
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