Savannah News Online Reporting Only What Matters Most
Related Articles
Ghana currently has about 1.9 million active Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributors; that is according to statistics by the state agency.
Sadly, only 34,000 active SSNIT contributors representing 1.824 percent of the 1.9 million work in the informal sector or are self-employed.
SSNIT finds this rather bizarre situation to be a ‘failure’ on its part over the years and now have adopted a strategy to embark on a campaign to court the attention of millions of Ghanaians actively engaged in the informal sector to enroll as contributors.
About 85 percent of Ghana’s economy is informal, consisting of 6.7 million self-employed persons from a total working population of 9.9 million.
The Strategy
SSNIT is encouraging Ghana’s informal sector workers to take advantage of its newly mooted Self-Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED) campaign program and enroll as contributors to safeguard their retirement or old age.
According to SSNIT’s Public Affairs Manager, Charles Akwei Garshong, “SEED focuses on extending pension coverage to self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector on the scheme.”
“SEED is essentially a repackaging of the Tier 1 product. It seeks to provide hope for self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector. It also focuses on providing social protection to workers in the informal sector”, he explained.
Mr. Garshong said these at a one-day sensitization workshop for journalists from the Upper East and Northern Regions held at the SSNIT office in Tamale on Sunday June 4, 2023.
The meeting was aimed at creating awareness amongst journalists and other media professionals the essence of social security in general and the need to support SSNIT to advocate for more Ghanaian workers especially those in the informal sector to enroll and contribute for their old age.
Benefits of SEED
SEED, according to Mr. Garshong, would provide income replacement and ensure that self-employed workers had a guaranteed source of income during old age or permanent disability.
According to him, it would also provide a life policy by paying the survivors of members (contributors) who pass on what is called survivors lump sum. “This is money that is paid to your family based on how much you contributed as a SSNIT contributor while you were alive”.
The initiative, he said, also sought to reduce poverty and over-dependence on benefactors including family relations, friends and the state. Furthermore, people who enrolled on SEED or SSNIT as contributors did not have to worry about their National Health Insurance Scheme annual renewal because they were already covered by their contributions.
Target
The self-employed, according to SSNIT, was anybody who worked for himself/herself or ran his/her own business. Examples of self-employed persons include consultants, architects, lawyers, traders, musicians, actors, taxi drivers, dressmakers, online business owners, masons, plumbers, carpenters, mechanics and hairdressers.
Moreover, self-employed persons who had contracted the services of workers were obliged to pay social security contributions on behalf of their workers. These include house helps, security men, garden boys and shop assistants.
How to Contribute
To be enrolled on SEED or SSNIT as a self-employed person, you just walk into the nearest SSNIT office with your Ghana card and you would be attended to by an officer in the agency. You would be asked to declare a monthly salary of your choice based on which you would pay your monthly SSNIT contribution of 13.5%.
Payment of one’s SSNIT contribution has also been made flexible. Apart from the monthly contribution, one can opt for quarterly, semi-annually or annually by paying in advance. Additionally, one’s declared salary could be adjusted annually if they so wish since the bigger their salary and number of months of contribution determine how bigger their pension pay would be when they eventually retire.
Ghana has an aged population of about 2 million, but only 11 percent of this figure is paid SSNIT at the end of every month.
According to the Tamale Area Manager of SSNIT, Festus Darko-Preko, Ghanaian pensioners were paid every third Thursday of each month, and this has been consistent over the years.
“Unfortunately, anytime there is a delay in paying some pensioners their pay, SSNIT is blamed for it. The delay in paying our pensioners isn’t from SSNIT but the banks. Few days to due date for payment, we transfer the money to the various banks. The delay in effecting payment on the due date is caused by the banks and not from SSNIT”, he rebutted.
By SavannahNewsOnline.Com/Kusiele Ziem
