Don’t hasten us to our graves- cry Pensioners in Ghana

The decision by the Social Security and National Trust in Ghana to add a paltry GH 10.00 to their emoluments across board is certainly sending tempers high amongst the ranks of pensioners in Ghana and bringing into sharp focus issues regarding the handling of workers’ by the nation’s premier pension managers.

The discontent amongst the pensioners regarding the recent indexation comes on the wake of growing concerns about the poor conditions of many Ghanaians currently  on retirement and the fact that the pensions managers have not been at their best in handling the affairs of workers in general.

Sections of the pensioners are presently threatening to embark on strike if nothing is done to ameliorate the situation, majority lamenting if the trust was not hastening their match to the grave after smelling a rat in how their pensions were being used to invest in other national project, including new pensions scheme proposals.

Indeed, remuneration issues recently almost reached boiling points when teachers, hoping to have a dramatic change in their living conditions – thanks to the single spine salary structure promised the ruling government, envisaged similar actions after their hopes were miserably dashed.

Some sections were reported to have adopted a work-to-rule attitude and a near disruption of the national independence celebrations last month.

The pensions issue has rather been pathetic when viewed against poverty levels in the country currently. It is not strange to hear of cases where civil servants have had to go home, after 25 to 30 years of meritorious service, with a miserable one-time payment GH 2,000 and a monthly emolument of a little over GH100.00.

The situation becomes more frustrating when politicians, especially, MPs take home sums beyond the imagination of many Ghanaians – Now they are asking of salaries several times above the very people who voted them into office.

The pensioners can therefore not be wrong, after all, how could the addition of GH100.00 to ones salary, have made any difference considering the harsh economic conditions in the country with prices of things increasing by the day.

The excuse by the pension’s managers that resources flowing into the scheme from workers’ contributions these days, are putting constraints on its ability to pay those already on retirement cannot be tenable since current pensioners were not supposed to be beneficiaries of the new scheme anyway. This obviously could be construed as robbing peter to pay Paul.

Workers under the laws of Ghana are required to contribute seven point five per cent of their basic salaries while government paid 17.5% into the scheme. The fund managers now claim it was part of their workers’ seven point five per cent that is now being used to boost a new scheme that is supposed to improve on their take home pay after retirement in future.

Ghana currently ranks the lowest in terms of salaries administration on the continent, according to a recent survey by the policy division of the Trades Union Congress of Ghana and is viewed as one of the main causes of low emoluments to pensioners in the country.

The pensions are not only low but the negative trend where any time there is an increase in salaries; it was the SSNIT pensioners the bore the brunt and were always at the receiving end while their government pensioner counterparts enjoyed comparatively more than they do. This trend, to say the least, is indeed hastening the poor souls to their graves.