By Juliet Korkor
As part of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust’s (SSNIT), initiatives to include the informal sector under the pension scheme, the Eastern Regional Branch of SSNIT held a float throughout the principal streets of Koforidua to educate traders on the need to enroll under the informal sector of the SSNIT fund.
The campaign dubbed ‘Y3 Wo Abonten’ under the Self Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), programme is targeted at enrolling persons in the informal sector aged from 15 to 45 years to enable them to receive a monthly pension after retiring at the age of 60.
The campaign, which is simultaneously ongoing nationwide, witnessed the SSNIT Staff in the region displaying placards with the inscriptions “Join SSNIT and get free National Health Insurance”, “The only pension scheme that pays you as long as you live”, and “Bring 13 point five percent of your income and get up to sixty percent, among others. One can make his or her contribution by dialling *711*9#
In an interview with GBC News, the Eastern Regional Manager of the SEED Campaign, Richard Manu, explained that Y3 WO Abonten campaign is to help eradicate the perception that SSNIT contribution is for only those in the formal sector.
“Majority of the working population in Ghana are those in the informal sector so we feel it is time to drum home the need for everyone to understand that SSNIT contribution is for every worker, both those in the formal and informal sector,” he added.
Mr. Manu said enrolling the informal sector, which forms majority of the country’s workforce, will help reduce old-age poverty.
Some of the traders who interacted with GBC News commended SSNIT for the campaign calling for more education on the benefits of enrolling in the SSNIT Informal Contributor programme.
