SSNIT urged to purge itself of bad investments
The Member of Parliament for Effutu, Mr Alex Afenyo-Markins, has called on the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to purge itself of bad investments that have resulted in huge sums of contributors' funds going down the drain.
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He said even though he saw nothing wrong with SSNIT chasing employers for monthly contributions of their employees, there was the need for the Trust to make meaningful investments that yielded dividends.
The MP cited SSNIT's investments in the Trust Bank which was eventually sold to Ecobank and the "virtual collapse of Merchant Bank" to buttress his assertion.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the incarceration of former flag bearer of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Mr George Aggudey, for failure to pay his employees' SSNIT contributions, Mr Afenyo-Markins called on SSNIT to take a second look at how it pursues employers for the contributions of their employees.
The MP stated that in some cases, much of the amount owed by employers was as a result of penalty imposed by SSNIT for non-payment of contributions on time.
Mr Afenyo-Markins called for the waiver of such penalties if employers were able to make a case as to why they were unable to make the payment on time.
He stated that the jailing of Mr Aggudey is a disincentive to entrepreneurs and reminded officials of SSNIT that "he who seeks equity must come with clean hands".
The wished Mr. Aggudey well and expressed the hope that he would return from his incarceration safe and sound to continue with his businesses to provide employment to the teeming unemployed youth in the country.
By Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah/Daily Graphic/Ghana
