Tier-Two Pension Brouhaha: �Gov�t Not Telling The Truth�

Vice-President of Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Daniel Kweku Denteh, has lashed out at ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) for �being economically with the truth� about Tier Two Pension contributions by public sector workers. He discounted the notion that the just ended strike by the twelve labour unions including teachers was engineered by members of the opposition parties, ostensibly the New Patriotic Party (NPP). According to him, the strike was not deliberate neither was it motivated by any individual or group of persons as was being peddled by some communicators of the ruling government. �We just didn�t get up and say we want to go on strike when there was nothing to demand from government,� he noted. The strike by the labour unions, Mr. Denteh intimated, was borne out of government�s continuous failure to disclose who was managing their Tier Two pension monies. He made these observations on Ghana, Great and Strong, a non- partisan programme broadcast every Saturday from 7:00 P.M., -8:00 P.M., on the Ghana�s premier internet radio, www.hedjorleonlineradio.com. The vice president of Coalition of Concerned Teachers also decried the way and manner government was handling the workers� pension money. He argued that the new pension law which came into being in December 2008 allowed the fund to be handled by an independent trustee. Mr. Denteh could therefore not understand why government would keep the monies of the workers. What was more worrying, he noted, was that many workers might go on retirement without having their pension money. He added that the Tier Two pension monies which government claimed were lodged at the Bank of Ghana (BoG) was not used for any investment. �As we speak now we don�t exactly know where our monies are and the government keeps telling us one story or the other about monies,� he opined. Contributing on the programme, the Education and Training Manager of National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA,) Emmanuel Awuku Dagbanu, although was not enthused about the recent strike by the labour unions, he admitted that it had helped in educating people more on the new pension law. He recounted after the law was enacted in 2008 and its implementation in 2010, the kind of challenges the Authority went through. He collaborated government�s earlier response that the Tier Two pension monies were kept with BoG for safety purpose. He went on to outline some of the benefits of the new pension law which includes involving the informal sector to contribute towards their retirement, ensuring equitable payment to Ghanaian workers and making sure that contributors get what they would contribute. For her part, Head of PenTrust, Victoria Armah, attributed the whole Tier Two saga to lack of adequate information and education. She called on the mangers of the fund to be more open and transparent to ensure public confidence in the new pension law. It would be recalled that twelve labour unions embarked on strike to demand their Tier Two pension monies which they claimed government was mishandling.