As part of efforts to promote and develop the pension industry in Ghana and also to extend pension coverage to the significantly large workforce in the informal sector as required by the National Pension Act, 2008 (Act 766) as amended, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has inaugurated a working group to achieve this mandate.
The working group is made up of 10 members with extensive professional experience to handle the task.
Their terms of reference include providing relevant technical and professional advice to the authority for onward recommendation to the board of NPRA.
The authority is committed to increase the enrolment of workers, especially in the informal sector, onto the Group/Personal Pension Schemes under the 3-Tier Pension Scheme.
The informal sector working group is chaired by Mr Ernest Martey- Vondee, Director, Planning, Research Monitoring and Evaluation; with Mr Emmanuel Dagbanu, Corporate Affairs Manager as the Secretary.
Other members of the working group from the industry with remarkable experience on matters relating to informal sector include Dr Francis Sapara-Grant, Ms Deborah Freeman, Ms Estella Dodoo, Mr Raphael Osei Ameyaw, Mr David Ofori, Mr Jeffery Konadu, Mr George Ofori and Mr Samuel Bediako Waterberg.
The terms of reference for the working group include to formulate and advise on appropriate strategies for encouraging the enrolment of informal sector workers into Pension Schemes under the Pensions Reforms, recommend relevant research into the characteristics of the informal sector that would enrich pensions policies relating to the sector, advise on relevant data on the informal sector that needs collection and collation to assist monitoring and evaluation, recommend any actions and activities that would promote pension coverage of the sector, as well as advise on any other issues incidental to the above.
A member of the NPRA Board of Directors, Dr T.A Bediako, who swore in the members into office, tasked the members to develop working strategies to encourage informal sector participation in the 3-Tier Pension Scheme.
Their mandate takes immediate effect from April 1, 2016.
Present at the inauguration were the Chief Executive Officer of the NPRA, Mr Kofi Anokye-Owusu Darko; Mrs Rita Afua Adzovie, Director of HR & Administration with corporate oversight responsibilities; and Mrs Brigit Naadzi, the Legal manager.
Source: The Finder