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The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) intends to launch a campaign to expand its coverage to include self-employed individuals.
In an interview with KMJ on Prime Morning on Wednesday, the Public Affairs Manager of the institution, Charles Akwesi Garshong, revealed that every individual in the country is entitled to a pension.
However, SSNIT is unable to capture everyone due to the low level of interest of people in the scheme.
After negotiating with private sector stakeholders for the past years, the office is set to begin the campaign this year to support private sector pensioners.
This, according to Mr. Garshong, is to change the narrative that the scheme is for only formal employees.
“…we’ve gathered quite a lot of lessons, and we’re ready to take off. So, in the next two months or so, we’re going to launch a major campaign targeting all self-employed and workers in the informal sector to provide them hope when they retire,” the Public Affairs Manager affirmed.
Additionally, he said the campaign is to help inform and educate all workers about the value of their contributions.
He also revealed that most working individuals who have attained age 60 and older are refusing to retire for fear of being without a source of income.
It is the responsibility of the scheme to provide pensions to every worker in the country, but only 1.9 million people are contributing to the scheme, which, according to Mr. Garshong, is not helping.
Due to the payment challenges some people are facing, the scheme has introduced an e-payment system to solve the situation so everyone can be involved.
Meanwhile, he has urged “every worker in the formal sector to ensure that the employer pays on the full earnings” to avoid future misunderstandings.
“People are encouraged to dial the short code, *711*9#, and follow the prompts to make payment,” he said.
Source: myJoy
