SSNIT Contributors Urged To Update Personal Records Regularly

An official at SSNIT has appealed to pensioners and contributors to regularly update their personal records especially in case of change of names of beneficiaries. �Records on members of the scheme are the most important single determinant of how fast one could access his benefits from the SSNIT upon application,� Mrs. Adwoa Sam, Benefits Officer of SSNIT, has said. She said this at a workshop organized by Good Life Ghana, a non-governmental organization, under the umbrella of Ministry of Health. Mrs Sam said a beneficiary would not be able to access the necessary claims if names provided by the contributor did not match that of the supposed claimant, adding that the delay on accessing claims was mostly due to the lack of adequate and reliable information on many contributors and their dependents. Mrs Sam urged pensioners and contributors as well as incoming members to provide true and accurate information about themselves during registration, stressing, �Changes in names and of dependents must be reported when they occur for easy access and identification�. Mrs. Sam expressed concern that many people sometimes tried to re-register at the loss or misplacement of their cards which she said was inappropriate since the cards are replaceable. She said many claims remained unpaid because SSNIT did not have reliable nominee to pay to and urged contributors of the scheme to maintain the same date of birth with both the SSNIT and their employers and that they must also settle student loan indebtedness and update their personal records regularly. Mrs Sam said the pension scheme was a social insurance scheme providing reliable income protection for workers in both government and private sectors as well as for those in the informal sector and appealed to people to register with scheme. Nana Attabrakese VII, Odikro of Brafoyaw, commended Good Life Ghana for educating them on the scheme.