To Trust Or Not To Trust The Trustees?

Day in day out, it is becoming impossible to see any bright light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel keeps getting darker and darker. Ghanaian workers have been hit again with a massive blow and this time it is not about their salaries or allowances, but about their pension monies, which we at the scandal believe is a blow below the belt. Retirement security is a problem for almost every worker thus the introduction of a pension�s scheme where employers and employee pay or contribute some amount into a credible fund that will see to it that monies paid in are invested properly so contributors can benefit from it. This can come in the form of monthly payments to the contributor when they retire or in a lump sum. For the past four years precisely since the year 2010, Ghanaian workers have not received their pension�s money from their 2-tier contributions which has caused deep agitations all over the country. Workers are asking questions as to where their monies which they are entitled to are. These questions have not received satisfactory answers and there are more questions in the pipe line. In Ghana we work with the 3-tier pension system which was introduced by the Kuffour administration to enhance our pension scheme and better the lives of retiring Ghanaian workers. With this system, every worker compulsorily contributes to the 1st and 2nd tier and voluntarily contributes to the 3-tier for further benefits. Social Security And National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) are in charge of the 1-tier whiles Pension Alliance Trust (PAT) have been mandated as trustees of the 2-tier. Ghanaians have a good memory and we believe they will remember back then when the scandal raised the red flag against the sale of Merchant Bank to Fortiz Private Equity. We believe the ripples of that sale is what we are experiencing right now. Ok, we will refresh the minds of Ghanaians with the following submissions which we believe will give an insight to everything that is happening. It is crystal clear to everyone that the trustee for the 2-tier pension�s fund is PAT who happens to be named by Fortiz as their general administrators and investment advisors. In all these controversies one will find out that one Mr. Emmanuel Botchwey who happens to a director of PAT doubles also as a director at Fortiz. Towards the sale and purchase of Merchant Bank now Universal Merchant Bank, it will be recalled that questions were raised as to how Fortiz Private Equity were going to raise an amount of gh90 million to buy Merchant Bank. Allegations we made by financial analyst to suggest that funds to buy then Merchant Bank were made available by the Bank Of Ghana through the Temporary Pension Fund Account (TPFA) which is the same as the 2-tier pension�s fund which Ghanaian workers have been contributing to for the past four years. These allegations have been left to linger with no explanation what so ever coming from the Bank of Ghana. They have not denied these allegations and have given us a cause to believe that something is wrong. Can the people of Ghana trust the trustees of their contributions and investments? Can the trustees come out to explain to Ghanaians why their monies have been held all these years? Can the trustees tell Ghanaians what their monies have been invested in? Can the trustees tell the good and diligent workers of Ghana how much their monies are worth now? We at the scandal smell something fishy, and it has to do with the involvement of Fortiz Private Equity and the trustees of our temporal pensions fund- PAT. If the sale of then Merchant Bank came clean we are sure this issue of pensions will also come clean, we are trusting. Hard working Ghanaians deserve what they are entitled to especially when they have contributed towards it, nothing not even the government should take this away from them. We are calmly waiting for answers and the turnout of things concerning the 2-tier pension�s fund. To trust or not to trust the trustees, who will provide us with an answer?