Features
Let’s treat our pensioners with respect and dignity!
A 72-year-old pensioner, using a walking stick, once walked to a bank in Accra which was quite a distance from his house in an anticipation of withdrawing his meagre pension allowance. The old man was acting on a payment scheduled calendar prepared by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on the monthly pension allowance to beneficiaries of the National Pension Scheme.
Looking tired, weak and frail, the fairly old man got to the bank only to be told that SSNIT had not forwarded the monthly pension to the bank to enable them to authorize payment of his allowance and, therefore, he could not withdraw his money. Visibly confused and dejected, the man nearly collapsed. Just imagine the terrible and harrowing condition in which the old man found himself in at that particular moment.He was disappointed and disturbed, especially in a situation where he had to walk a long distance to the bank. But for some good Samaritans at the banking hall who mobilised some funds to give to the old man, the situation would have been dangerous and the worse could have happened.
DELAYS IN PAYMENT OF PENSIONS
There are other negative instances across the country in which SSNIT, managers of the Pension Scheme, has not lived up to expectation and delayed in the payment of pension to beneficiaries and has failed to communicate or explained to them the reason behind the delay in sending their money to the various banks and as a result some of these old men were placed in a very tight corner because for some of them, their monthly pension allowance has been their only source of revenue for their livelihood since they don’t have any dependants to fall on in times of financial difficulties. In very few occasions, messages are sent on mobile phones in an anticipation that beneficiaries will read and be informed about further delay in the processing of entitlements, but not everyone owns some of these android phones, more so, how many of such old men can access, use or manipulate these phones?
A typical example of the delay in payment of the pension was in the month of February where it delayed for a couple of days. Per the payment calendar issued by SSNIT at the beginning of the year, the pension is paid and routed to the various banks every third Thursday of each month. This arrangement has been duly communicated to the beneficiaries and, therefore, they are aware of the date and have obviously, budgeted for the money. It is that prior notice, that inspires and entices the beneficiaries to go to their respective banks to withdraw their entitlements. If payments are not made at the stipulated date and no communication or proper explanation is given by SSNIT, it disorganises and dampens their spirit. One would expect SSNIT to use the mass media especially, the electronic and print to communicate to them about the change of date and the reason behind it to alleviate any potential problems and sufferings by beneficiaries not to keep them in the dark.
SSNIT MUST SIT UP AND SHOW ADEQUATE FAITH TO PENSIONERS
For goodness sake, it is very important and necessary for SSNIT to show adequate faith to the beneficiaries of the scheme and also keep to whatever promise and assurance in the payment of the pension allowance to deserving pensioners. If for any circumstance beyond its control that tends to affect the date of the payment as stipulated on the calendar, it is wise and necessary for SSNIT to publish it for the beneficiaries to be aware of the new date but that should not even be stretched to the discomfort of the beneficiaries of the scheme. Once this is done, the thousands of old men who troop to their banks which are the only sources of receiving their entitlements, will take precaution and minimise the resultant stress involved.
We need to accord pensioners the highest and greatest respect and treat them with dignity in view of their greatest sacrifices and immense contribution to society and the country in general. Treating them with kit gloves means you are disrespecting them and that amounts to cursing oneself.
WHO QUALIFIES FOR PENSION?
For the sake of my readers let me throw a little light on the pension age in Ghana and who is entitled to pension. Until the debate of the new retirement age of 65 years currently in progress is concluded and adopted in the country, the current retirement age is 60 years in accordance with the National Pension Act 2008 (Act 766) as amended by the National Pensions (Amendment Act 2014) Act 883.
For full pension, a worker must have attained 60 years of age (55 years if working under hazardous conditions) with at least 180 months (15 years) of contributions. An early pension is also available to workers from age 55 years with at least 18 months (15 years) of contributions. There are three main types of pension, the state pension paid by the government, occupational pension (your pension through work) and private personal payment.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has been mandated by law to administer the pension scheme in the country. Percentage of monthly salaries of public sector workers is paid to SSNIT which holds the money in trust for workers as retirement benefits. The scheme is opened to the private sector workers also.
HOW IS THE YEARLY PERCENTAGE INCREASE CALCULATED?
One particular issue that needs to be clarified by SSNIT is how the yearly percentage increase to pensioners is calculated. At times, one sees the percentage going up to as far as 18 per cent increase while in some instances, it comes down to as low as 10 per cent. This situation creates a bit of doubt and anxiety among beneficiaries, thus making them to assign political connotations to the payment procedures. It was time SSNIT came out to educate pensioners about the method used in calculating yearly percentage adjustments in order to set the records straight.
TREATMENT GIVING TO PENSIONERS IN ADVANCED COUNTRIES
It is important to state that in some foreign jurisdictions across the globe, it is the pensioner who enjoys most. Everything is subsidised for them to enjoy because they are considered people who have sacrificed for the betterment of their countries. They enjoy tax rebates when they visit various shopping centres malls to purchase commodities. Pensioners are held in high esteem, in the United States of America (USA), United Kingdom (UK), Germany, China and many other advanced nations across the globe. However, in Africa especially our own country, Ghana, pensioners are looked down upon and treated with disdain. This does not augur well for our democratic advancement.
PENSIONERS ASSOCIATION MUST BE PROACTVE
The leadership of the Pensioners Association of Ghana needs to be proactive and fight for the interest of its members not to sit aloof while pensioners are taken for a ride and giving a raw deal by SSNIT and its collaborators, otherwise that confidence reposed in them by members will be lost. There are a number of pensioners who are yet to join the association because they don’t see the vibrancy of the association in coercing SSNIT for that matter the government to address the problems of members.
We need to know that pension is something that nobody can avoid as far as public sector worker is concerned. That is why it is important to provide the needed comfort to pensioners as they relax in the comfort of their homes to enjoy the fruits of their labour. It is equally important for public sector institutions to provide their workers with good and better salaries because pensions are worked on individual monthly salaries of workers. Pensioners in this country deserve better than what exists now!
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Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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