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Workers should be able to afford a house when going on retirement – GNAT General Secretary
The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT), Thomas Musah, has said the general income situation of all workers in the country should be looked at.
He indicated that most workers earn low salaries which eventually affect the quantum of the pension benefits they are given when in retirement.
Speaking at the GNAT Investment Forum held at GNAT Hall on Wednesday, he said “It has become very necessary that the issues of income in this country should be looked at. We cannot run away from the issue of basic salary.
“That is why we are organizing this forum to look at, what can be done to ensure that when workers are retiring they are better. There is one thing that we have been asking over the years, at least, if for nothing at all, when the worker is retiring he should be able to afford a two bedroom house.”
Taking his turn, the Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, said the scheme is the best pension system workers can get anywhere.
He explained that the management of SSNIT has been carrying out indexation to meet the rising rate of inflation.
This, he said, is part of the reasons the scheme is best for workers.
“SSNIT undertakes indexation every year and the indexation matches inflation. SSNIT is aware of that and so we compensate for inflation.
“I will urge people not to throw the baby out with the bad water. The narrative is that SSNIT is not good, people connived with their employers not to pay their SSNIT, but the SSNIT scheme is the best that you can ever get anywhere else as far as pension is concerned, if you don’t join to contribute you are harming yourself,” he noted.
He further indicated that the management is going to roll out a programme to educate the people on the need to join SSNIT.
“We are going to rollout a programme to get people to come and join SSNIT because it is the best thing they can do for themselves,” he said.
Source: www.myjoyonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disbursed GHS134,000 to 22 students under the latest round of his Scholarship and Bursaries Programme.
According to a statement from his office, the 22 beneficiaries are enrolled in 16 tertiary institutions across the country.
They are studying various courses, including medicine, marketing, law, public health, midwifery, business administration, education, and secretaryship.
The MP’s office commended the beneficiaries, especially the five students currently studying medicine and physician assistantship, encouraging them to remain committed to their studies.
The statement indicated that the scholarship initiative, which began in 2017, aims to support brilliant but needy students from the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency to further their education. So far, about 700 students have benefited from the program.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Four tricycle operators, popularly known as ‘Pragya’, have been prosecuted and fined GH¢600 each equivalent to 50 penalty units by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Sanitation Court for obstructing public roads at the Agbogbloshie Market.
The offenders, who were arrested by Public Health Officers of the AMA during a routine enforcement exercise, pleaded guilty to the offence and were subsequently convicted by the court.
The four operators were among the 21 offenders recently arrested at the Agbogbloshie Market for various sanitation and public order violations, including selling on open drains, obstructing walkways, and trading at unauthorised locations.
Speaking after the court proceedings, the Head of Public Health at the AMA, Madam Florence Kuukyi, said the court was lenient with the offenders since it was their first appearance, hence the fine, and warned that subsequent offenders would face stiffer penalties, including imprisonment.
