Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, Director General of SSNIT
The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, has reiterated the benefits of the Ghana Card, when properly synced to capture the bio data of all working Ghanaians and their survivors.
He said only two million of the estimated 10 million working Ghanaians in both the formal and informal sectors are active SSNIT contributors, adding “they have been issued with biometric identity cards, while efforts are being made to get the other eight million on board”.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 2022 TUC/SSNIT Regional Engagement programme at Kumasi, Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang emphasised the importance of the Ghana Card, which has effectively replaced the ‘SSNIT Card’.
Benefit
Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang pointed out that up to $126 million dollars could be saved in the long term if all the 10 million working Ghanaians, with at least one survivor each, was registered and integrated into the SSNIT system using their national ID cards.
“We have been able to issue only 2 million SSNIT Cards to our contributors. This means that we will save some $56 million now that the Ghana Card is the sole biometric card to be used to register the remaining 8 million working Ghanaians onto the SSNIT system,” he said.
That aside, he added that about $70 million would be saved if each survivor of the 10 million potential contributors used the Ghana Card. This, he explained, would save SSNIT $126 million overall, in the long term.
“I think this is the point that the Vice- President was trying to make, so it should not be taken out of context. If you think progressively about the benefits of the Ghana Card to SSNIT in the long term, you would appreciate that what the Vice- President said was apt,” Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang added.
GhanaCard
The Director General of SSNIT further indicated that since July 1, 2022, the Ghana Card had been the only identification recognised by his outfit.
“This is in compliance with Regulation 7(1) of the National Identity Register Regulations, 2022, L.I 2111 which requires the use of the Ghana Card as identification for transactions pertaining to individuals in respect of pensions and transactions that have social security implications,” he stated.
He revealed that members of the Trust have had to merge their SSNIT and NIA numbers to be able to access pensions and other social security related services.
“Employers are now required to use only the NIA numbers of their workers to process contribution reports and make payments. Voluntary contributors have also had to pay their contributions using their NIA numbers only,” he added.
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