Government has initiated processes aimed at enrolling workers in the country’s informal sector onto the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), a state-owned national pension scheme.
The move, the Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta explained, seeks to protect informal sector workers most of who do not have a pension scheme.
Reading the government’s 2019 budget statement in Parliament on Thursday, November 15, he said the enrollment of workers in the informal sector also forms part of plans to expand Social Security coverage in the country.
He noted that retirement income security is a right for every Ghanaian, hence the decision to get all on board the SSNIT.
“I am pleased to announce Mr. Speaker, that SSNIT is working with Government to develop a policy framework to provide informal sector workers with a voluntary fully funded personal pensions scheme to be launched in 2019,” Ken Ofori-Atta disclosed.
The Finance Minister also said this intervention will protect the poor and vulnerable in Ghana, by helping them save for their future.
He said government has implemented a number of social intervention programmes aimed at reducing the suffering of Ghanaians and creating opportunities to enhance lives since it assumed power in January 2017.
“The Akufo-Addo Government has eased the burden of hundreds of thousands of Ghanaians and invested in the future of our children with the introduction of the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme”
The free SHS programme, according to Mr. Ofori-Atta, has provided an opportunity for some additional 90,000 students to be enrolled at the Senior High School level.
He mentioned that some 10,000 graduates have also been employed under Government’s Nation Builders Corps (NABCO) programme.
By Irene Amesimeku| 3news.com| Ghana
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