The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) should be collapsed and in its place, a private firm contracted to deal with issues of pension, a financial consultant, Mr Cudjoe Akpabey, has said.
Mr Akpabey’s comment comes on the heels of the Economic and Organised Crimes Office (EOCO) investigating the $72 million software saga at SSNIT. There are concerns that the monies paid for the system have been overpriced, with ICT experts arguing that the cost for the application is outrageous.
The software system, which was undertaken in 2012, is, according to SSNIT, meant to provide customers with convenient services.
Reacting to this development on Class91.3FM’s Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Wednesday, 30 August 2017, Mr Akpabey said “I’m the one championing the collapse of SSNIT. Let me tell you, this $72million we are talking about is peanuts. I led a team around the year 2000 – 2003 to investigate SSNIT and I will give you the companies and the monies that we’ve lost. In today’s money, it’s about GHS20billion plus several millions of dollars so this is not new.
“SSNIT is not an insurance scheme; it’s not a trust fund. It’s a deception, and we have all been deceived over the years that we have Social Security and National Insurance Trust, but there’s nothing like that. As a matter of fact we are all paying taxes but they tell us it is contribution.
“So all the discussions have been on this law and I have said at several places that let EOCO carry out its investigation, we have also done some in the past but the issue is, is SSNIT viable? No, let’s dismantle it and let’s have private institutions running your contributions in that institution…”
He proposed that instead of SSNIT, “Let’s have private fund managers. For instance with insurance, don’t we have state insurance companies? But we have other private ones so you determine where you should go. The point is this, if you were going to retire in about 10 years’ time and you are on a scheme, you must know how much to get at the end of your retirement isn’t it? Because if you go to apply for life policy and you tell them I need one million by my retirement, they will tell you how much you should pay. Your premium, the actuaries will calculate it for you so if your deduction from salary is not up to, you’ll make up. So at the end of your retirement you know how much you are getting. But this is a scheme that is shrouded in mystery and you don’t even know [how much you’ll earn after retirement].”
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