According to the outgoing Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang, it was conflicting for him to have received board fees and sitting allowances since he decided the number of times meetings could be held.
Against this background, Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang revealed that in his entire seven-year tenure, he didn’t take “a pesewa in board fees and sitting allowances.”
Addressing staff of the Trust in his last formal meeting yesterday [Monday, April 15], Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang said, “I have made my fair share of personal sacrifices for the Trust.”
“As a member of the Board of Trustees, I’m entitled to sitting allowances each time I attend a Board Meeting or a Subcommittee meeting.”
He noted, “That is my entitlement, enshrined in law. But I saw a conflict because I, by and large, determine how many meetings to have in a particular month.”
“And if each time I call for a meeting, I get paid, then as you can imagine, something that can be done in one meeting may spill into 2 or more meetings, because I’ll get paid more.
“Therefore, because of this conflict that I saw, I have not collected one pesewa in board fees and sitting allowances during my 7-year tenure as the head of this institution,” he stressed.
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The public servant also maintained that, despite these benefits being enshrined in the law, he opted for a flexible term to cut down on the Trust’s expenditure bill.
“The good book says all things are lawful but not all things are helpful. I revised down my approved conditions of service not to fly first class for my foreign travels, even though I was entitled to it,” said the outgoing SSNIT boss.
He said, “I fly in the same class as all the executives. With the cooperation of the EXCO, we removed the so-called travel days’ provision where one collects full per diem when you’re in the air. In the case of the DG, I could be getting paid an extra 2 days per diem for my outbound flight and 2 for my return flight.”
“So I stood to benefit more if we kept that provision. Among others, which I do not wish to enumerate here, I have made my fair share of personal sacrifices for the Trust,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang urged the staff to “remain circumspect in your wishes and demands so that the confidence in the Trust that we have managed to build would not be eroded.”