’SSNIT Scheme’s Financing at a ‘Critical Juncture’; A Cry from Within’

SSNIT Scheme’s Financing at a ‘Critical Juncture’, a Cry from Within… In November 2021, the Africa Center for Retirement Research (ACRR), after a review of the 2014 and 2017 Actuarial Valuation Reports, engaged stakeholders including the media on the dangers facing the medium to long-term financial sustainability of the SSNIT Scheme. The aim was to communicate to the stakeholders, the financial and actuarial status of the Basic National Social Security Scheme (SSNIT), as well as guide the public debate, and to show the urgency needed to restore the financing deficit of the Scheme. The Director-General of the Trust at the time, Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, did not take a technical view of the publication, and chose politics over the financial well-being of over 1.9 million Ghanaian workers and more than 250 thousand pensioners and their families. The Trust rather issued a rejoinder that the scheme was financially sound and no help was needed. The period after was characterized by administrative actions that showed little commitment to addressing the deteriorating health of the scheme, as evident in the scheme’s assessment indicators from 2021 to 2023.