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

Stella Akua Quartey underscored the importance of pensions to Ghanaians and also highlighted that the powers the NPRA has over defaulting employers.

“NPRA has prosecutorial powers. Employers who are defaulting payment of contributions towards their employees’ pension will be prosecuted and the contributions retrieved on behalf of the employees.

“So, please, the employers defaulting, NPRA is telling you that now we have prosecutorial powers. We can prosecute you.”
Stella Akua Quartey

Stella Akua Quartey pleaded with employers to heed to the directive of the NPRA regarding payment of pension to their employees.

“So, please do the needful and contribute towards the future of your employees so that old age poverty is reduced and they can also enjoy pension when they can no longer work at the compulsory retirement age at 60 or the reduced retirement age at 55.”
Stella Akua Quartey

The assistant manager of corporate affairs at the NPRA, Stella Akua Quartey, gave the notice at a workshop organised by the Ministry of Finance for media practitioners in Tamale.

The three-day workshop aimed at equipping media practitioners with financial literacy skills to educate the public on how to manage their finances and avoid the risks associated with the financial sector, especially on fraud and Ponzi schemes.

The public education campaigns are aimed at equipping customers of financial services with knowledge and skills to use the services that fit their unique needs.

Micro Pension Schemes Are Best for Informal Sector

Meanwhile, the NPRA said micro pension schemes are best for informal sector. Hayford Attah Krufi, chief executive officer of the NPRA, noted that the African economy, which is basically informal, would succeed through small scale pension, personal pension, and group personal pension schemes.

Mr Attah Krufi cited countries such as Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda which were progressing in the micro pension sector. “We in Ghana, especially in the informality of the nature of how we work, the best way to approach pensions is through associations, cooperatives, unions and individual,” he explained.

Mr Attah Krufi noted that old-age poverty, especially, among the informal sector is increasing and there is the need to wipe out the narrative, adding that they constituted about 85% of the population.

Krufi noted that the NPRA is therefore working hard to raise informal pensions from a low level of 3% penetration to 40% penetration in the next five years.

He debunked the notion that pension plans are only for those in the formal sector and explained one did not have to be a salaried worker before enrolling on pension schemes. He implored employees to demand information about their contributions towards pensions.