Some practitioners in the pensions industry have blamed the lack of accurate data for the increased controversies surrounding the management of tier two pension schemes among public sector workers.
In their view, the absence of credible employee data hampers effective disbursements of the contributions currently with the Temporary Pension Fund Account at the Bank of Ghana.
“The current problem about the Tier 2 pension scheme is that the money has been deposited at the Bank of Ghana but the data is lying somewhere else,” the General Manager of SSNIT, Ernest Thompson opined.
He added, “So when people begin to demand payment of their claims, now the managers are going through a system of reconciling data using audit firms and they cannot effect any payments until that reconciliation is completed.”
Public sector workers have embarked on several agitations including strikes over the non-payment of Tier two pension contributions to their respective fund managers.
The Chairman of the Forum of Public Sector Labour Unions and Executive Secretary of CLOGSAG, Dr Isaac Bampoe earlier told Citi News, “our demand was that the second tier should be transferred to our custodian banks but as we speak now, nothing has been done”
Finance Minister Seth Tekper in an interview on the Citi Breakfast show on November 25, 2016 confirmed that the Auditor General is validating the pension of some labour unions in the country to enable their fund managers receive the monies on their behalf.
“The Controller is not equipped to do the validation, so can we bring in SSNIT for example, that is equipped to do the validation before the payment. Yes we are owing, there is a schedule for payment, and we are on it,” the minister said.
Mr. Ernest Thompson who was speaking at the sidelines of the launch of the fund’s Biometric Terminal explained that managers could avert another bout of confrontations should employees and employers insist on the provision of accurate data for pension purposes.
“If the money is in your account as a fund manager but the data is lying somewhere, then there is a problem…data is very fundamental in social security administration,” he added.
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By: Pius Amihere Eduku/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana
