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The Asante Mampong District Court has convicted two caretakers of private schools to a fine of GHC1,000 each for failing to pay SSNIT contributions under the National Pensions ACT (ACT  766 of 2008).

They are Mr Osei Appiah of the Maranatha Preparatory School at Effiduase Asokore in the Sekyere East District in the Ashanti Region, and Mr Abronya Frimpong, the head teacher of Noah International School at Kona in the Sekyere South District,

They both pleaded guilty, therefore, Mr Godwin Kpogli, the presiding magistrate, ordered them to pay  their fines in addition to their respective outstanding debts with the relevant penalties, by April 24.  

The SSNIT Area Prosecutor, Mr Ernest Amoako, told the Court that during SSNIT’s inspection of the accounts books of the Maranatha School, it was detected that the proprietor, who was rendering education services under SSNIT registration, had not paid SSNIT contributions since September 2014.

The outstanding debt, he said, was GHC 640.74, thus attracting a penalty of GHC 122.01.

However, Mr Appiah, the accused person, explained that the school was the property of his sick mother and he was only a caretaker.

Besides, he said, he did not receive any demand notice from the complainant, but the court did not accept his reasons.

For his part, Mr Frimpong, the headteacher of Noah International School, was asked to pay the

Outstanding debt of GHC 711.36 with the penalty of GHC 300.86 penalty to SSNIT.

He explained that the School belonged to one Reverend Minister but the court rejected his reasons too.