By Tilda Acorlor
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has launched its annual Mobile Service Week in Ho, the Volta Regional Capital.
The SSNIT Mobile Service (SMS) Week is an annual event which seeks to bring the services of SSNIT closer to their clients and members across various locations of the country.
The event themed “You also deserve a Pension; Join SSNIT today” is to bring the services of SSNIT to the doorsteps of all.
A total of 69 vantage locations have been selected across the 16 regions of the country to provide services to Members and Clients to enable them to get access to the services of the Trust with ease.
The SMS Week also provides the Trust the opportunity to intensify the education of Members and the public about their rights and responsibilities under the Scheme.
The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, said the theme for the occasion is borne out of the Trust’s commitment to ensure every worker in Ghana receives a decent pension.
He disclosed that self-employed workers in the country constitute the largest working population but most of these workers have no social security covering them.
He indicated that it is in their interest to register for the Scheme to enjoy its benefits.
“We assure you of our commitment to vigorously pursue and enroll all workers, especially the self-employed. This is because the Trust recognizes that the self–employed and workers in the informal sector form the majority of the 10 million or so workers in Ghana, and like their colleagues in the formal sector, they also deserve a pension”. Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang said.
“The SSNIT Scheme is one of the surest ways to reduce and prevent poverty among the aged. So instead of re-echoing the misconceptions of low pensions which tend to discourage most self-employed, let’s share with them the value SSNIT provides and inform them that if their contributions or premiums are high, then their pensions will be high”, he added.
Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang urged the general public to support the SMS campaign by urging their families and friends within their circles to sign up for the Scheme to reap the benefits the Scheme offers.
He revealed that the Trust will soon introduce an enhanced and interactive self-service portal that will allow Members and Clients to perform several activities on the SSNIT’s website.
These activities he said will enable employers to request, view and download Clearance Certificate, request a negotiation meeting for outstanding debts, and also allow Members to initiate registration onto the Scheme, view the nominee list, check member information, and initiate and track benefits applications, among other activities.
“Pensioners will also be able to renew their Pensioner Certificates and view pension payment Advice. I am happy to announce that in about a week from today, members can pay their contributions using Momo and pensioners can also opt to receive their pensions through Momo (ELEVY exempt), and by the close of the year, the SSNIT app will be fully functional”, he added.
The Volta Regional Minister, Hon. Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa commended the Management of SSNIT for leveraging technology to make the services of the Trust more accessible to Members and Clients.
“Technology has allowed for the reduction of administrative costs associated with printing of SSNIT Cards and reduced the time pensioners have to wait to collect their first pension as they can now payment within a maximum of two weeks after submitting their application”, he noted.
The Paramount Chief of Kpenoe Traditional Area, Togbe Kotoku XI appealed to all and sundry to register and take advantage of the good benefits of the scheme to have a quality life in retirement
Since the beginning of the year, the SSNIT has been engaging stakeholders of the Scheme notably, players in the informal sector and self-employed as well as regional and district leaders of Organised Labour.
The engagements form part of deliberate efforts to extend coverage to the many self-employed workers who do not have any form of social security cover.
The SSNIT’s SMS week coincides with the Global Customer Service Week which is observed in the first week of October and is celebrated annually across the globe.
The SMS week is expected to end on Friday, 7th October 2022.
SSNIT is a statutory public institution charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766 as amended by Act 883) with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme.
Its mandate is to cater to the First-Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme.
The SSNIT Pension Scheme has an active membership of over 1.7 million.