Ghana's social security warns Ghanaians to be wary of rising misleading pension schemes

According to the unit, engaging these misleading pension schemes will only worsen their plight.

The Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang who spoke at a day’s SSNIT/Trades Union Congress Volta Regional Educational Forum on Pensions’ notes that SSNIT had already built a robust scheme that considered the welfare of contributors and urged them to make use of that advantage.

He added that the scheme was generous and a better alternative to investing in treasury bills and there were no myths surrounding pension benefits computation and that pensions were a direct reflection of salaries on which contributors were paid.

“With the SSNIT Pension Scheme, what you put in is what you get. I will proffer that for improved pensions, the conversation should shift from focusing on perceived low pension payment to addressing the salary levels on which contributions are paid. If salaries improve, then pensions will automatically improve,” he said.

About 78 percent of pensioners earned a monthly pension of GHC 1,000 or less, approximately 71 percent of active members contributing on GHC1,800 or less, with 25 percent of active contributors and pensioners contributing GHC 400 or less approximately.

50 percent of active members and pensioners contributed GHC 1,000 and GHC 600 or less respectively, with 4 percent active members and one percent pensioners contributing and earning GHC 5,000 or more.

SSNIT was embarking on an aggressive public education drive imbued with technology to get to the grassroots, increase its visibility and create easy access for its clientele.