By Michael Kofi Kenetey
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust, SSNIT has organized a float through the principal streets of Koforidua in the Eastern Regional capital to create awareness on the Self-Employed Enrollment Drive, SEED Initiative which was launched in May last year. The initiative dubbed “Ops-A-Thon” is part of the effort of SSNIT to extend pension coverage to self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector and also to encourage more self-employed individuals to enroll in the scheme.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust is a statutory public trust charged under the National Pensions Act, 2008 act 766 with the administration of Ghana’s Basic National Social Security Scheme. The mandate of SSNIT is to cater for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme. To encourage self-employed people to enroll in the scheme SSNIT launched the SEED Initiative. To drive home the idea that SSNIT has embarked on a nationwide tour to raise awareness of the initiative, sensitize self-employed individuals on the benefits and value the scheme offers its members, and encourage them to enroll on the scheme.
Before the launching of the SEED Initiative in May last year, about 13 thousand self-employed people were enrolled on the scheme, however, currently over one hundred thousand self-employed individuals have enrolled on the scheme. It is a result that SSNIT has brought its nationwide tour to the Eastern Region and has organized a float through the principal streets of Koforidua to create awareness of the SEED Initiative, encourage and sensitize the self-employed in the region to enroll in the scheme.
This is to help the self-employed to get social security protection when they grow old and can no longer work. Addressing the media, the General Manager in charge of Operations at SSNIT, Mr. Kingsley Adjei-Manu encouraged all self-employed workers to enroll in the SEED Scheme to get financial cover during their retirement age when they can no longer work. He reiterated that through the benefits of the scheme, poverty among the aged can be eradicated. He mentioned three important benefits that self-employed individuals stand to gain when they enroll on the scheme.
The Acting Corporate Affairs Manager at SSNIT, Mrs. Victoria Gifty Abaidoo reiterated that SSNIT contribution is not only meant for only formal sector workers but also the self-employed and all those in the informal sector can also contribute to get a social security protection cover during their old age or when the unfortunate happened that the contributor becomes incapacitated. She provided an insight about the invalidity pension and the requirements for such benefits.
The float saw some directors and managers from the national headquarters, and the Eastern Regional Management and staff participating. They were holding placards with inscriptions “the only scheme that provides you with invalidity pension, Fa 13.5 percent bɛgye 60 percent, the only pension scheme that pays you as long as you live, dial 7119# to pay your SSNIT contributions among others.