The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, the backbone of Ghana’s Social Welfare System for Employees.A few days ago the former President and Flagbearer of the NDC made a brilliant submission about SSNIT looking at the accumulated contributions of Workers and disbursing a token or a percentage of their contributions as a relief package for workers in this time of social distress for workers.(especially private sector employees)Ofcourse it wont be compulsory, those who need it will apply for it and be imbursed. Instead of SSNIT, acknowledging this brilliant suggestion by the former President and feeling ashamed for not thinking on their feet, the SSNIT boss is on radio claiming it’s illegal for SSNIT to do so.Now this is where you must get angry now if you are a Ghanaian worker…Workers in this Country spend their entire life contributing into a fund only to given a paltry sum as benefit when they go on retirement. Over the years, SSNIT has continuously failed the working class, it has failed to live up to its core mandate as the bedrock social security system for retired senior fellows.Today most of our senior Citizens and retirees are worse off and virtually live on the alms of benevolent relatives or acquaintances. Some of them practically have to beg to feed themselves or to meet their medical needs all because of the cruelty and insensitivity of SSNIT and this would have been a fine opportunity for SSNIT to redeem its sinking image by reaching out to Ghanaian workers and demonstrate CARE and PARTNERSHIP in this time of need but No they are walking around shamelessly telling you that it is illegal for them to give a token of your own money which you have contributed to them for safekeeping back to you.Then this same SSNIT takes about GHC500,000 of your Contributions and give it to the COVID-19 fund, for what purpose we don’t exactly know, so we are asking if disbursing a token to contributors is illegal then which law backs the 500,000 Cedis donation they made to the COVID-19 fund?Again if there is NO provision in the Act that allows for such disbursement, is this and many others NOT the reason why the Speaker decided to suspend Parliament sine die instead of adjourn sine die?Are these not the kind of legislations that should be rushed to Parliament immediately under a certificate of urgency for a portion of the law to be amended to allow SSNIT to support its contributors at this particular moment and times like this in future?So now it’s very clear the suspension of Parliament was never to allow for the consideration of any COVID-19 related laws but rather Parliament was suspended to allow the C.I of the EC to mature by May.(it is so very clear now!!!)And as for SSNIT they should keep on shouting it’s illegal, its illegal… whiles they waste contributors funds buying expensive vehicles for their staff and building non-affordable houses whiles retirees go home with chicken change….very soon there would be a mass civil disobedience on SSNIT contributions and they would understand that when the people want to repeal a law or make a law useless, the don’t need Parliament…They just have to be angry enough to rise up against it and we are certainly not far from such instances where people will boycott SSNIT and choose their own private social security funds that will serve them well in times of need and the SSNIT law will become redundant and so will their jobs!
Mensah Thompson
Executive Director,
ASEPA
0542120628
