Govt failed to transfer GHC269m of workers Tier 2 A report by the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to Parliament, intercepted by Joy News, has revealed that government through the Controller and Accountant General has failed to transfer more than 200 million cedis of workers’ pension contributions to the designated Bank of Ghana account. The controversy over exactly how much has been lodged in the account, and who should manage the Tier 2 pension funds, forced workers to call a strike that was called off on Tuesday. The NPRA had announced that a total of 1.6 billion cedis has accrued in the B.O.G account. But it has emerged that between May 2012 and September 2014 government failed to pay more than 200 million cedis into the account although it collected worker’s contributions. The document also shows that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has also failed to transfer contributions collected between June and September, 2014 into the account. According to the report, “The total outstanding contributions determined on the basis of Bank Transfer Advices (BTAs) for CAGD as at October 27, 2014 is GHS269, 269, 105.79. This amount excludes the amount for the contribution months of August 2014 and September 2014 for which BATs are yet to be issued. The amount of GHS269,269,105.79 stated above is also without interest on delayed contributions and on unpaid contributions. It is worth noting that the total amount for outstanding mounts for SSNIT is yet to be determined based on BTAs submitted to NPRA by SSNIT.” The Authority, according to the report to the Finance Committee of Parliament, undertook a number of investments in Treasury Bills and government bonds during the years under review. “These investments were made between April 19, 2010 and October 27, 2014. As at October 27, 2014, the total balance on account and an investment holding of GHs 1,641,117,027.70 was being held at BoG.” The Pensions Authority also outlined that its smooth operations are being affected by major funding challenges. ADVERTISEMENT “The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) presented a budget for an amount of GHS15, 271,834.00 for the year 2014 based on the Authority’s work plane to the Ministry of Finance. The Authority was however allocated an amount of GHS5, 508,564.00 for its activities for 2014, after parliamentary approval. No approval was given for non-financial assets.” Also in 2013 government approved GHS3, 017,200.00 out of GHS5, 090,762.00 budget estimates. The report said even though a total amount of GHS1, 063,500.00 was approved for good and services, only GHS285, 000.00 was released to the Authority. Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the Registered Public Sector Workers Forum, Reynolds Tenkorang told Joy News, workers are not “surprised at all” about the development because it has been their suspicion all along. This, he said, explains why government has deliberately “collapsed” schemes registered by the workers and is compelling them to sign onto the Pensions Alliance Trust Company Limited, appointed by the government. The Pensions Act stipulates that if an employer fails to transfer workers’ contribution within 14 days from the end of each month it would be liable to a 3% penalty. Mr. Tenkorang therefore insisted that government be made to pay 3% of the GHS269m it has defaulted in transferring for months. He said the workers would meanwhile wait for an audit report by PricewaterhouseCoopers to properly “dissect” the report and determine how much the government owes them. However going by the NPRA’s report, Mr. Tenkorang capped his argument with, “The cat is out of the bag”.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 22:48:25 +0000
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