The assurance by the Director General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kofi Osafo Maafo, that the SSNIT is financially viable to meet its obligations to pensioners in spite of its challenges is heart-warming.
It is also reassuring to hear that since its transformation from a provident fund as it was the case at the time of its establishment in 1972 to a pension scheme in 1991, SSNIT has never defaulted in paying pensions and benefits to the members of its pension scheme.
The Ghanaian Times receives the news with all joy because all along some people have been harbouring ill notions about the Trust based on which they misinform or disinform the public.
For instance, some claim that the SSNIT is involved in bad investments done with the contributions of scheme members and that the future of its pension payments was in the balance.
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The situation became worse this year following the decision by the Board and Management of the SSNIT to seek a strategic investor to manage its hotels.
There have been numerous media commentaries and write-ups, some of which, instead of educating the public about the process, have chosen to attack the SSNIT, accusing it of mismanagement, bad investment, and questionable decisions causing financial and operational crises likely to undermine the viability of its pension scheme.
It is worthy of note that the efforts being made by the SSNIT such as bringing in workers from the informal sector like those involved in self-employment indicates a future planned to accumulate funds from those in active service to pay pensioners while the active workers wait for their turns for as long as they tarry.
It must be acknowledged that every Ghanaian must help SSNIT to grow and strengthen its position to pay the benefits provided under its pension scheme, namely superannuation/old age, and invalidity pensions, as well as survivors' lump sums.
It should please every Ghanaian adult undertaking any economic activity to join the SSNIT pension scheme because its benefits, particularly in an era when assistance from family members and friends are hard to come by due to the hardship in the system.
Before the colonists introduced pension, it was the family that provided support when members became old or suffered disability and threatened by economic deprivation.
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It is well known that the traditional extended family practices ensured socioeconomic protection for needy members.
Today, especially with the decline of family system, where there is a gradual shift away from reliance on the extended family, solace can only be found in institutionalised social security systems and the SSNIT pension scheme cannot be discounted in this regard in the country.
The Ghanaian Times, therefore, believes that instead of vilifying or discrediting the SSNIT and its pension scheme, we should encourage it to improve its payments by any means possible to attract particularly workers in the informal sector.
It is a fact that retirees' pensions reflect their basic salaries during active service, but it is sad to learn that currently the lowest-paid pensioner takes home GH¢409.10, while the average monthly pension is GH¢1,756.38.
These figures spell poverty unlike elsewhere like Netherlands, Iceland, Denmark and Israel, as well as Botswana in Africa where pension time is a period of enjoyment.
