The Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, says the value of pensions received by pensioners is better than any form of personal investments they can undertake.
Using examples, he showed how a pensioner on the SSNIT scheme was better off in the value of funds he or she received upon retirement compared to any form of personal investments.
He was speaking at a pre-May Day Forum held by Organised Labour and the Friedrich Ebert Stritung (FES) on the theme: “Sustainable Pensions: The role of social partners” in Accra yesterday.
Generous SSNIT
In his presentation, Dr Ofori-Tenkorang began by telling the more than 500 workers gathered at the forum that “SSNIT is generous and good”, which elicited murmurings of protests from the workers.
“I knew I would get such a response from you when I said this,” Dr Ofori-Tenkorang responded to the protest and proceeded to explain his statements.
He said workers were often of the view that they would be better off with their SSNIT deductions if they invested such money in a different investment or savings portfolio, but that was far from the truth.
That, he said, was because all the pension contributions by a worker in active work on the SSNIT scheme, if taken and invested in a treasury bill, would not give the levels of accruals in value as the scheme upon retirement.
He said for a member contributing to SSNIT for 322 months, with a pension right of 60 per cent with the best salary average in three years as GH¢688 monthly, the accrued contribution over the working life would amount to GH¢37,000 or a present value of GH¢45,000.
He said he had computed those contributions for various contributors of the scheme and found that in all cases, the value added by SSNIT was what could be obtained from any private investment.
Dr Ofori-Tenkorang said even with arrangements such as a worker’s survivor or nominee’s benefits, which were a form of life insurance policy, workers, though dead, benefited greatly through their survivors, as they would have paid a premium if that policy was assessed privately.