The Social Secu-rity and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) court presided over by Ms Afia Owusuaa Appiah has ordered the Accra Metropolitan Assem-bly (AMA) to pay GH¢1,289,990.83 to SSNIT by Decem-ber 17, 2022 or face punitive measures.
The money represented 30 per cent of a total debt of GH¢4,299,969.42 the AMA owed in workers' SSNIT contributions since September 2021.
The court further directed the AMA to within a month resolve any payment differences it had with SSNIT concerning the set-tling of the total debt.
The AMA was charged with failure to pay SSNIT contributions and the failure to pay penalty on SSNIT contributions and it plead-ed guilty with explanation to both charges.
The Director of Finance, Fran-cis Anaba, who was included in the suit and the Deputy Director of Administration, Desmond Tutu Arhin, who represented the AMA were both granted a self-recogni-zance bail after the court entered a plea of guilty on their behalf.
When the case was called on Saturday, Mr Anaba explained that the debt was incurred between 2017- 2019, when the assembly consisted of 13 sub-metros, which were now three as 10 had become autonomous metros.
He said attempts to get the 10 assemblies to pay their debts had failed, adding that a plea was sent to the Ministry of Finance requesting for a bail-out, but they were yet to receive a response.
Deputy Director of Adminis-tration, Tutu Arhin, added that they proposed a payment plan spread over an eight-year period but it was rejected by SSNIT.
The facts presented by SSNIT prosecutor, Nana Ama France Manu-Amoah, were that an inspection conducted on AMA's books as of September 2021, revealed that it had failed to pay the SSNIT contributions for their employees to the tune of GH¢1,738,157.72 and a penalty fee of GH¢2,661,811.70 for reneging on the payments.
Ms Manu-Amoah said a demand letter was served on them inform-ing them of their obligation to settle their arrears but they failed to comply.
She added that their total debt stood at GH¢4,299,969.42 as an amount of GH¢100,000 was paid on November 8, 2022 reducing the initial debt of GH¢4,399,969.42.
The court fixed the next hearing for December 17, 2022.
