Ghana Moves To Cover 13m Informal Sector Workers On Pension By 2020

Members can check statements online and transact business with the Trust through a portal

By Benson Afful

Ghana’s National Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) says it rolled out a product next year to cover the over 13 million workers in the informal sector.

“We have constituted a team that has been working on a product that is customized and suited to that market segment to be rolled out by end 2020”

— John Ofori Tenkorang

The Trust currently has over 1.5 million active contributor base—who are mostly in the formal sector and a pensioner population of over 200,000.

According to Mr. Tenkorang, it means that the majority of informal sector workers are not guaranteed lifetime regular income replacement by way of pensions. We shall extend social protection for the working-class Ghanaians who are not currently covered by our Scheme.

Mr. Tenkorang said SSNIT implemented decisive strategies to improve customer service, brand and reputation management which culminated in the Trust being ranked first in the Public Sector category for Customer Service in the 2018 Ghana Customer Service Index Report released by the Institute of Customer Service Professionals.

He said there is a periodic engagement with staff, which takes place during unannounced visits to various branches and departments by himself and his deputies. Also, management introduced the Pensioners Priority Desk in 2017 to ensure pensioners, who walk into the company’s offices, do not queue before being attended. Members of the scheme can now check their statements online and transact business with the Trust through our portal. Through this same portal, employers can now submit their Contributions Reports for validation and make payments at the nearest bank without having to visit any SSNIT Office. In the next two years, the Trust shall complete the restructuring of customer service delivery. Reduce unnecessary stakeholder exposure.

He said another driver of service delivery is technology, which saves time and money. 'Definitely by the close of the year, several key initiatives would take off. These include NIA Integration and Payments through MoMo, SSNIT App, GRA, RGD integration.'

Strengthening public education

The Trust will embark on an aggressive and sustained public education campaign. A holistic approach encompassing controlled messaging, media relations; face-to-face interactions and presentations will be rolled out to create social security informed society.

We are developing messages to be played in the Intercity STC buses with over 500,000 commuters annually. We may not be able to change current pensions received by pensioners. But certainly we can build a critical mass of informed workers who contribute diligently to the Scheme. The story about pensions will significantly change in the future.

The same Scheme that pays someone a minimum pension of GHc300 pays another GHc 55,000,” he said.