Informal sector now intrinsic part of SSNIT’s sustainability — Osafo-Maafo

The inclusion of informal sector workers in the national pension scheme will remain an intrinsic focus to create a more robust and inclusive pension regime for Ghanaians.

This is because the informal sector workers represent the largest portion of the country’s working population. It is therefore, vital for the sustainability and growth of the pension fund.

The Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Kofi Bosompem Osafo-Maafo, who disclosed this,  said contrary to the perception that SSNIT was meant for only formal sector workers, informal sector workers were a critical part of the trust; hence, the need to support it.

He, therefore, appealed to informal sector workers to take advantage of the benefits that SSNIT offered and enrol on its Self-Employed Enrolment Drive (SEED), an initiative aimed at extending pension coverage to self-employed persons and workers in the informal sector.  

 “SSNIT offers you the most secure pension. So if you are out there in the informal sector, the first message we want to get to you is that join the SSNIT scheme. It is the best scheme that there is.

“It offers the best pension scheme that there is in this country because within that pension scheme is built-in life insurance, invalid benefits, and indeed the pension benefits themselves, which are based on a defined benefit scheme.

“What that essentially means is that from day one or at any time, you can determine what your benefits would be. Now that is far superior to any other scheme, and that is the central message,” the SSNIT D-G said in an interview with journalists after a float in Accra last Friday.

The float, which started from the Calvary Temple of the International Central Gospel Church at about 9:45 a.m., saw the staff of SSNIT drawn from various branches in the Greater Accra Region educating business owners and workers in the informal sector such as mobile money vendors, interior designers, food vendors, ride-hailing drivers, among others, on SEED and the need to enrol on the scheme. 

Dubbed, the “Operation-A-Thon”, the exercise formed part of the Trust’s ongoing efforts to sensitise self-employed persons to the benefits of the scheme to its members and encourage them to enrol.

It is the latest following successful ones held in Wa, Techiman, Tarkwa, Koforifua, Obuasi and Somanya.  

Other staff of SSNIT also displayed placards with inscriptions such as “Join SSNIT and get free National Health Insurance”. “The only scheme that provides you with life insurance at no extra cost”, “The only pension scheme that pays you as long as you live”, “Bring 13.5 per cent of your income and get up to 60 per cent”, among others.

They also distributed flyers to the target audience before eventually winding up at the Coca Cola Roundabout at Spintex.

The group proceeded to SSNIT’s newly acquired office inside the Takyi Plaza, also on the Spintex Road, to tap into the pool of workers in the services, manufacturing and retail sectors.

Mr Osafo-Maafo explained that since the launch of SEED in 2023, the Trust had seen enrolment rise from approximately 13,000 to around 121,000 individuals.

“Of course, that is significant growth. But if we look at the pool of informal sector workers there's a lot more to go. So we are certainly not stopping here,” he said, calling on staff of SSNIT to continue the enrolment drive. 

Writer’s Email: justice.agbenorsi@graphic.com.gh