SSNIT investments safe, viable — Dr Ofori-Tenkorang
Investments of state-run tier one pension, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) are safe and viable, Director-General, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, has said.
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“I can assure every contributor or potential contributors to our pension scheme that, the investments of the Trust are safe and viable and yielding the needed returns to keep the scheme afloat,” he assured as he allayed the fears of a section of reporters who posed a question when SSNIT announced the new indexation for pensioners last Thursday.
Some potential contributors to the scheme have shied away from the scheme because of their fears that their investments are not safe.
That has come about because of the low pensions some contributors received when they retired but in his sharp response to that rumour, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, said, more than 95 per cent of the investments ofg the Trust were perfroming optimally.
“Yes, we know that, we should be able to have all the investments yielding returns but we are working hard to ensure that the about five per cent non-performing investment, return as expected,” he said.
Dividends
A number of companies in which SSNIT has interest, paid huge dividends as a demonstrations of the viability of the sceheme.
For instance, MTN Ghana presented a cheque of GH¢34.6 million to SSNIT as payment of the final dividend for the year ended 2022 and the 2023 interim dividend paid in June and September 2023.
Labadi Beach Hotel, a premier 5-Star facility, also presented an unprecedented dividend of GH¢25 million for the year 2022 to its sole shareholder, SSNIT, a t time when many of the hospitality facilities in the country are not performing optimally.
According to Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, the development was an indication of the careful choices made by the trust to ensure that its investments were placed in companies that return as expected to keep the scheme afloat.
“This is why I do not want anybody to be scared because we are doing the right thing in the best interest of all of us”, he said.
In February last year, the hotel had presented dividend of GH¢10 million to its shareholder for the year 2021, a testament of the hotel’s resilience and resolve to operate profitably despite the many economic challenges and the hard times the industry was facing.
SEED campaign
On moves to get more people not in the scheme to enroll, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said SSNIT will intensify its initiative aimed at roping in more informal sector and self-employed persons in Ghana onto Tier One pension scheme.
Riding on the successes of last year when it launched the Self Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), SSNIT believes that a more aggressive approach to push the initiative will attract more people in that bracket to secure them a better future when they retire.
“We have developed a good initiative that will help many people to guarantee a better future in retirement and we must sustain the campaign this year and beyond.” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, said.
Expansion
The number of self-employed persons on the SSNIT more than quadrupled in the last two quarters of last year.
From about 14,200 in May, the number sharply rose to over 57,000 as of last month, with more preparing to come on board.
SSNIT attributed the feat to an aggressive campaign by the management of the state-run pension scheme, a move which is expected to be intensified this year and beyond.
The campaign is aimed at roping a large number of workers in the informal sector of the economy into the scheme.
Ghost names
Dr Ofori-Tenokrang also said the management of the Trust had withheld an amount of GH¢480 million which would have been paid to about 19,100 pensioners as of November last year.
“These persons have not come forward to verify their identity and so we are holding that money until they show with the valid documents that proves their identity,” he said.
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According to him, it forms part of a grand process to ensure that what is paid out as pensions on a monthly basis went to deserving contributors.