The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), a statutory public Trust charged under the National Pensions Act 2008 Act 766, has launched the Self-Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED) to help redefine social security in the country.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, Director- General of SSNIT, at the program explained that the SEED product will expand coverage of basic national and social security Scheme to the self-employed in the country and to give them a dignified retirement and comfort.

Meanwhile, the Director- General of SSNIT disclosed that as part of the project, SSNIT carried out extensive engagements with other stakeholders across the country to solicit input and support on how to extend pension coverage to the self-employed individuals who are yet to enroll onto the SSNIT.

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang stated that the engagements showed that the country has relied on the compulsion of the law to extend pension coverage to employees through their employers, where several employers complied begrudgingly.

According to the SSNIT Boss, stakeholders see SSNIT contributions as a tax, and tries very hard to pay the barest minimum by pushing most employee entitlements into allowances and there by paying SSNIT contributions on minimal basic salaries.

This, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said, has snowballed into several pensioners receiving relatively small pensions (because small salaries/contributions equal small pensions and vice versa), which made the Scheme unattractive, especially to the self- employed who are not obligated by law to join the Scheme.

“On a personal level, these engagements and this journey have convinced me that extending pension coverage to everyone who spends their best years toiling and working daily to build our country is simply the right thing to do. Of course, there is also the added bonus of the improved sustainability of the Scheme.

“The law has its place, but for this campaign, we are going to rely heavily if not exclusively, on the strengths of the Tier One product…and we believe that once we have convinced the self-employed to look at SSNIT again, we will get them to sign up.”
Dr Ofori-Tenkorang

The Director-General is optimistic that the self-employed would sign up because SSNIT is offering an opportunity for them to ensure their incomes. So, it could be replaced when they are old or become invalid and could not work again. “The same Scheme will also pay a benefit to their survivors if they pass on,” he said

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang noted that unfortunately, only about 1.9 million of the 10 million workers in the country are covered under the SSNIT Scheme.

Self-Employed Workers Risk working their Entire Lives

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang stated that the most disturbing thing is that only about 32,000, representing just about two percent of active contributors, are self- employed, even though most workers in the country are self-employed and/or work in the informal sector.

This meant most self-employed workers risked working their entire lives even when they are old and frail or having to rely on the state or family and friends for financial support when they retire.

“This unbalanced coverage of workers is a sad commentary of our social protection system, and we have a responsibility to change this narrative. The SSNIT Scheme is not for formal sector employees only, it is for all workers in Ghana. Indeed, our highest earning pensioner (GHC169,000) was a businessman.”
Dr Ofori-Tenkorang

Dr Ofori-Tenkorang, meanwhile, called on Ghanaians to take the tier two and tier three contributions seriously, noting that it would ensure that in addition to the monthly pensions received from SSNIT, the other two tiers would each pay a one-time lump sum when one retires.

Mr. Bright Wereko-Brobbey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, noted that the Scheme is more appropriate for self-employed people because more of the people in this sector had the capabilities of contributing hugely on a monthly basis.

Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations on his part used the occasion to urge the management of SSNIT to continue improving on service delivery, simplify onboarding processes and maintain open-door policies that allowed clients to easily reach out.

The National Pension Regulatory Authority (NPRA), recently also announced that it will start prosecuting employers who have defaulted in the payment of their employees’ pension contributions.