SSNIT Scandal: Pensioners Demand Full Account Of Spendings

A pensioner, Felix Essar Hianu says pensioners in the country are upset by recent happenings at the Fund and wants a comprehensive report on how the company has utilized their contributions.

Mr Heno, who is a former secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools said the developments at SSNIT indicates that the company is in a good position to review pensions upwards.

“We are not happy about what is happening at all. It is our money and they have to make sure they manage it very well so that at least every year we can get an upward adjustment. But from what we hear, it means that they are not giving us what is due to us if you can allegedly bloat an amount of a country,” he told Richard Sky on Eyewitness News.

“I’m sure that pensioners will from now decide that they should increase our money by 100% if money can be used recklessly the way it is being used,” he added.

It emerged last week that SSNIT had undertaken a project meant to network all of its branches across the country to enable them to receive real-time data directly from the headquarters in Accra and enhance efficiency at a cost of $66m which later increase to $72m.

The amount was ballooned from an initial contract sum of $34m.

Many have suspected that the deal was overpriced and has generated a lot of backlash from the public.

Mr. Hianu said pensioners are expecting that a thorough investigation is carried out into the matter and believes officials who are found complicit in the deal must be punished.

“Those who violated the laid down regulations must be held accountable because how can the management decide to enter into a contract without the blessings of the board.

He said pensioners will need to convene an emergency meeting to agree on key demands to be made to SSNIT.

We [pensioners] have to convene an emergency meeting so they put in a claim to demand an upward adjustment of the pensions and also a detailed account statement of how their monies are being used.

Support calls for a forensic auditing of SSNIT’s account to ensure transparency.

Mr Hianu said possible proposals that may come up at the meeting include a call for the scraping of SSNIT.

“We are peeved as a matter of fact. Because we are not getting anything at all. We demand that our leaders a thorough briefing as to what our monies are being used for and briefing on what the malfeasance is about.

We will decide the way forward and one of it may be that we scrap it,” he said.

About 5 people are currently being investigated by the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) for their involvement in the implementation of the project.