Investigate Pension Alliance Trust- IMANI

Policy think tank Imani Ghana has called on organized labour to demand thorough investigations into attempts to impose Pension’s Alliance Trust as managers of their pension funds.

This comes five days before organized labour’s deadline to government to suspend the plan, or they embark on a strike on July 14.

Workers under the National Pension Act (2008) are required to contribute 5.5% of their earnings into private funds as part of a mandatory second tier program.

Organized labour met with the Minister of employment and labour relations and the parliamentary select committee on employment to discuss their concerns, but it is unclear what the outcome of the meeting was.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Civil and Local Government Staff Association, CLOGSAG, Isaac Bampoe Addo, Organized labour’s July 14 deadline still stands if government refuses to act on their concerns.

“There are four schemes involved, we have civil and local government staff, teachers including GNAT, NAGRAT and CCT, then you have the Judicial service, health service workers union, so these are four schemes that have been established and have been licensed by the NPRA to operate the second tier of the Pensions act, so what we are asking for is for government to allow the scheme to operate,” he stated.

Imani Ghana is also urging organized labour to resist the move to impose pension alliance trust without due process.

Speaking to Citi Business News, President of Imani Ghana, Franklin Cudjoe said, “I think it is reprehensible to have workers have their employers impose pension fund managers on them. It is undemocratic, and it is not fair…I think they have every right to reject it as much as possible and call for a thorough investigation as to why that happened in the first place”.

Source: Citifmonline.com