Only about 1.9 million of the 10 million workers in the country are covered under the Social Security and National Insurance (SSNIT) Scheme.
According to the Director General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, what is more disturbing is that only about 32,000, representing 1.68% of active contributors, are self-employed.
This is despite the fact that the majority of workers in the country are self-employed and/or work in the informal sector.
Speaking at the launch of the SEED – a campaign to expand coverage of the basic national social security scheme to self-employed persons in Kumasi in the Ashanti region, the Director-General said every Ghanaian must support SSNIT to work to fix this lopsided social security coverage of workers in the country.
“The SSNIT Scheme is not for formal sector employees only; it is for all workers in Ghana”. Indeed, our highest earning pensioner (¢169,000) was a businessman.”
“Our offices and officers are ready to receive you with open arms and wide smiles. Our officers have been trained and will engage you in your preferred language. Visit us today, register, contribute and start the journey to building a financially independent future for yourselves during retirement”, he continued.
“But we are not just going to wait for you to come to our offices, we want to sign you up at your convenience, so we will be reaching out to you in your offices, at the markets, at the trotro/taxi stations, on digital media and other platforms”, he added.
Dr Tenkorang explained that persons who sign up and make monthly contributions to SSNIT in the formal sector, are guaranteed monthly pensions when they retire or if they become permanently disabled.
He also urged informal sector workers to take their tier two and tier three contributions seriously, adding “this will ensure that in addition to the monthly pensions you get from SSNIT, the other two tiers will each pay you a one-time lump sum when you retire.”