Features
Chasing the ghosts out of the national pension payroll
A ghost is an apparition of a dead person which is believed to appear or become manifest to the living, typically as nebulous image. It is the soul of a dead person believed to be an inhabitant of an unseen world or to appear to the living in bodily likeness. The word ghost has been corrupted and used in our everyday life. For example, we often hear of ghost names that have found their way into payrolls of public institutions and workplaces, resulting in the loss of huge sums of revenue at the expense of the nation. Moneys are paid to faceless people as a result of negligence on the part of officials who manage the public purse, thereby causing financial loss to the state.
HUGE AMOUNT RECOVERED FROM GHOST NAMES
Recently, Ghanaians were told that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), in an aggressive drive to rid its books of ghost pensioners, has raked in over GH¢320 million savings which otherwise, would have gone to ghosts or faceless beneficiaries of the Pension Scheme who had passed on without their knowledge. According to the Director-General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, the amount which had been withheld since 2018, covered the category of deceased pensioners whose guaranteed pensions entitlement had been exhausted.
“For persons who are on PNDC Law 247, that is the age of 72 and pensions on Act 766, that is the age 75…but at the moment, no pensioner who is on Act 766 is that old because, they recently just started going on pension. Every year, we have to ensure that pensioners reach out to the Trust and undertake their biometric registration…however, we know that this can come at an inconvenience for pensioners who may be bedridden or incapacitated and cannot come to the SSNIT offices,” he told journalists outside parliament on July 27, 2022.
COMPLETION OF PENSIONER CERTIFICATE
He explained before the Public Accounts Committee that, in order to ensure that payment of funds to deceased pensioners aged 72 years and above, under PNDCL 247 and those aged 75 years and above under Act 766, ceases, all pensioners within the stated age categories, were required by policy to complete a Pensioner Certificate once every year to confirm that they are alive. “Those who do not complete the certificates are deemed not to be alive and, therefore would have their names deleted from the pension payroll,” he told the committee.
He further explained that the SSNIT in 2018, changed the Pensioner Certificate renewal frequency from once every three years to once a year in a move to promptly identify and delete deceased pensioners age 72 years and above, adding that the Trust has since implemented a number of measures including Electronic tracking, deactivation of names of pensioners due to annual Pension Certificates Renewal in the new Operational System to tackle issues concerning deceased pensioners.
PLUGGING THE LOOPHOLES IN PAYROLL
The Director-General deserves commendation for the pragmatic policies put in place to plug the loopholes within the payroll of pensioners that enabled the country to rake in a lot of money that could have gone to the drain. The Pension Scheme had over the years been fraught with enormous challenges in which moneys were paid to deceased pensioners through their banks to their families and relatives, because of lack of information about them due to failure to report about their death by relatives and relations to the Trust for their names to be expunged or taken out from the beneficiaries’ payroll.
That problem might not come from SSNIT per se. It could be either from the establishments or institutions where the deceased worked, of which the failure by the employers to inform the Trust about the death or the reluctance of the deceased’s families to communicate the information on the demise of their relations to the SSNIT. In the case of pensioners, even though their entitlements have been duly paid to the deceased persons before they passed on to eternity, their monthly allowances will continue to be paid at the blind side of the Trust since there is no available information concerning their death. For this reason, the country will continue to have ghost names on the SSNIT payroll.
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS BY SSNIT
Under the Pension Act, SSNIT upon receiving information of the death of a member including evidence of death will conduct its own investigations to ascertain the death and afterwards request the nominated and approved beneficiaries to apply for the benefits. If the deceased had not yet retired, most schemes will pay out a lump sum that is typically two or four times their salary. If the person who had died was under 75, this lump sum is tax-free. This type of pension usually pays a taxable survivor’s pension to the deceased spouse, civil partner or dependent.
For the benefit of my cherished readers and patrons, I will like to dwell a bit on the Pension Act of Ghana as it relates to deceased persons to enable them to be abreast of how it operates. The National Pension (Amendment) Act 883 was passed by Parliament on 31st December 2014 with the objectives of reducing the age exemption of those who Act 766 became applicable from its inception on January 1, 2010 from 55 years to 50 years and a mandatory contribution scheme with monthly contributions of five per cent on the basic salary of all employees among others.
WHAT THE PENSION LAW SAYS ABOUT DECEASED PENSIONER
After death, the pension benefits vary depending on the type of pension you operate. More often, the spouse of the pensioner can receive benefits upon the account holder’s death. That will be equal to quarter of the emolument for each completed six monthly period of qualifying service, subject to a minimum of 16.5 times the emoluments. Some pensions end at death, meaning that no beneficiary or family member gets the right to claim the pension. However, other pensions provide for payments to surviving spouse or dependent children for a few years and longer for others.
I am not an expert in pension matters but from my little research, I can conclude that the National Pension Scheme, is such a laudable venture which every worker in the country should take advantage of because there are more prospects involved in the scheme, especially when one retires from active service and has nothing to depend on, but to rely on your pension allowance. Life after retirement, is not an easy thing at all, because that is the time you will face a lot of challenges, especially healthwise. You have to invest a lot in medications to keep your body fit, healthy and active, and your pension money, although meagre can at least support, sustain and help you to manage yourself somehow.
PAYMENT OF COLA TO PENSIONERS
This is an issue which should be well considered by the government and to take a critical look at it because of the meagre allowances enjoyed by pensioners in the public service to cushion and help them to manage the high cost of living.
The management of the scheme must consider the recent petition by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and other well- meaning Ghanaians about the need to pay Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) to pensioners in view of the current economic hardship to enable them to make ends meet. It is also important for workers to fight for better monthly wages and salaries instead of allowances, so that when they finally retire from active service, their pension entitlements will be higher, since the calculation of end- of- service pension is based on monthly salaries not allowances.
The scheme should be well protected and safeguarded, while at the same time ensuring that people are honest to report the death of their deceased relatives and family members, to enable the management of the scheme to expunge their names from the pension payroll to maintain and safeguard the integrity of the scheme.
By Charles Neequaye
Contact email/WhatsApp of author:
0277753946/0248933366
Features
The Prophet part 4
Antobam woke up with a terrible headache. He checked the time on his mobile phone, 2:30 am. “What! Where is the money?” He asked aloud. “Where are those girls? Why did I drink so much of that whisky? What were those two girls up to?” He sat up on the bed and noticed a bulge close to the pillow.
He lifted the mattress and picked up the newspaper wrappers with the neatly arranged notes. He saw the neatly written record of the value of the notes. No, those girls are not thieves.
“It was my mistake. If I hadn’t drank myself to sleep they would be here in bed with me, giving me the time of my life. Pretty girls, those two. And so loyal and honest. Tomorrow will be different.”
“I will not drink any whisky, and I will show them that I am a real man. Just then he heard the whispers. Very soon it will be time, they seemed to be saying. This is an important day.”
The gold dealer will bring lots of money. Give him some of the liquid to drink, and we will prepare him. He will do very big business, and he will give you anything you ask for. There will be more miracles and testimonies today.
Antobam smiled to himself. “I am going to be a very rich man in only a few days man. Money, power, and women. Wow! Antobam got to the grounds at 5, but there were quite a number of people waiting.
Mr Kwame Dofu was among them. He greeted them all, and they came around to shake his hand. “My brothers and sisters, I assure you that whatever your problem is, you will not go home without a solution.” Shouts of “Amen” “thank” you Osofo and “you are a true man of God” responded.
“Please take your seats, and start talking to the great one about whatever bothers you. Before the service is over, there will be a solution.” He waved Mr Dofu over, and went with him to the wooden structure that serves as a temporary office.
“My brother, I have done quite a lot of work on the issue you came to see me about. I have prepared a special, powerful package for you. Take this, drink it, and go back to your business. I want to see you in two weeks.”
Beaming with smiles, Mr Dofu drank the foul smelling liquid in two gulps, said a big thank you to Antobam and took his leave. “I believe you, Papa Osofo. And I assure you that I will reward you, big time.”
Just when Osofo Antubam finished with Mr Dofu, Mary and Suzzie went over to him. “Good Morning ladies. I am very sorry about yesterday. I drank too much of the stuff you gave me. Today will be different, I assure you.”
“Don’t worry, Osofo. Since you are now setting things up, our main concern now is to help you to put things in place, and to make you comfortable. We are always there to serve you. This morning, Osofo, we want to go and clean up your place, and prepare something nice for you when you close.
And before coming to church, we will pass by the bank and collect the forms. After you have signed them, the account will be open. You can check the payments anytime and, of course, issue cheques whenever you need money.”
“Suzzie and Mary, I am happy I picked the two of you from the very start. Listen, I will take good care of you, okay? Here is some money. Buy whatever you need for the errands you have mentioned.
And here is the key. Please come back as early as you can. You know I need you here.” The service was very lively. The lively singing of praise songs was followed by one and a half hours of testimonies.
Most of them related to money – big sales, new jobs and overdue debts paid. But there were also testimonies about healing. Barren women had taken seed, and, of course, several men who had lost their bedroom authority had regained them, to the delight of their partners.
As he had promised, Antobam preached for only 30 minutes, exhorting the congregation to attend church regularly, pay their tithes and offerings, and strictly follow his ‘directions’ for securing solutions to their problems.
After another round of praises during which the congregation danced to the floor to drop their offering, he closed the service, grabbed the big bowl which was full to the brim with money, and moved to his desk. A long queue was quickly formed at the desk.
Meanwhile, Mary and Suzzie had gone to give Antobam’s place quite a decent look. A new bedsheet and pillows, a secondhand carpet and four plastic chairs placed in the verandah had done the trick.
They also prepared two fish and chicken stews. After all these, they rushed to the National Savings Bank and collected application forms for opening current and savings accounts.
They joined the service a few minutes before the main session closed. Antobam looked round and saw, to his relief, Mary and Suzzie moving towards him. “Hello ladies. What have you been up to?” “Quite a bit, Osofo. We’ve just collected your drink. Here you are. We’ve made a few changes at your place. I think you will like it. You will also have something nice to eat. Now, here are the forms for the savings and current accounts.
If you will sign them, the bank will open the account. From today, we can pay all monies direct into the account.” ‘How can I thank you, ladies?” “You don’t need to thank us,” Suzzie said. “It is our duty to help a man of God succeed.” “Okay, my ladies, please take the offerings and count them as you did yesterday.
You can add the payments made after the consultations. Will it be possible to pay them into the account today?” “Yes,” Mary said. “The bank closes at four. If we leave here at three, we would be there just in time.”
The two friends started counting, as Osofo Antobam gave his clients his directions for solving their problems. On quite a few occasions he closed his eyes as if he was receiving direction from above on what to do.
But as the fetish priest at the Nana Kofi Broni shrine and the dwarfs had assured him, the solutions would certainly be provided. Having heard the huge testimonies earlier in the day, the clients parted with substantial sums of money in expectation.
By Ekow de Heer
Features
The issue of spiritual father in our churches
A student was supposed to go to school as the natural cause of events should be when universities or schools in general opens but this was not the case in a certain young man’s life.
He decided to postpone his trip because apparently he could not get to meet his pastor, his spiritual father. The question is, should this spiritual father die, will the young man’s life come to an end?
Does it mean in such an instance, he is going to curtail his education? This is a worrying trend in a lot of churches where the pastors use this notion of spiritual father to manipulate members especially the youth.
Some unscrupulous pastors utilise this spiritual father concept to have affairs with gullible young ladies in their churches.
Now with homosexuality gradually making inroads into some of the churches, young men are becoming vulnerable to pastors who have hidden homosexual inclinations.
This spiritual father concept is a Biblical concept that runs through both the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. We see it in 2 Kings 4:12 where Gehazi is serving Elisha and also in the New Testament we see Paul relating to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:2 as a Spiritual Father.
In fact, the concept of spiritual father is a good thing if executed according to the word of God since it helps in guiding the younger ones. However, it becomes problematic when it is being executed by unscrupulous wolves in sheepskins as described by Jesus in Mathew 7:15.
I see it as a way that these unscrupulous so-called men of God maintain their hold on the congregants so they do not question their unchristian actions.
One of the things I have observed since I got born again many years ago is that, any pastor who often insists that members recognise that he is their spiritual father is a warning sign that he is doing some wrong things or is about to indulge in some wrong things.
A parent complained about how his daughter was being influenced by a pastor of the church she attends and how worried he was. I am sure there are many parents out there with stories to tell about how their wards are being made to see their pastors almost like their Jesus.
These pastors have managed to make their congregants so loyal to them and to believe in them so much that it is terrifying, as a parent.
The way things are going, an immediate intervention is required otherwise I am not a prophet of doom but I forsee unfortunate instances where parents burst into church auditoriums and star shooting some Pastors out of frustration and anger.
We cannot look on unconcerned as a society and allow unscrupulous fraudsters using the name of God to create problems for families. My recommendation is for a certain amount of regulation in order to bring some sanity in religious practices.
I agree that ordinarily regulating religious practices makes it a bit restrictive in terms of freedom of worship as enshrined in our constitution but given the way things are going, a bit of regulation will not be out of place.
Disgusting stuff are being attributed to some men of God. There are cases of manipulation of young ladies and sometimes married women by so called men of God and it is bringing Christianity and therefore the name of the Lord into disrepute.
Christianity is gradually losing its attractiveness as a result of the negative reportage resulting from disgusting stuff happening in Christian circles. The way some pastors have been manipulating congregants to take money from them leaves much to be desired to the point where they are convincing some of the youth to give out their phones. May God help us.
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
