Former Minister of State in the John Kufuor administration, Elizabeth Akua Ohene has been appointed to chair the board of directors of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
Ms Elizabeth Ohene, who also once served as the government spokesperson in President Kufuor’s Administration and described as courageous and brave by ace journalist Kwaku Addo Sakyi-Addo in a recent post, is expected to partner the management of SSNIT to pursue the vision of the Trust which is to be the model for the administration of Social Protection Schemes in Africa and beyond”, which would eventually lead to the provision of income security for workers in Ghana through excellent business practices”.
How to improve the core function of SSNIT which are to register employers and workers, collect contributions, manage records on members, invest the funds of the Scheme and process and pay benefits to eligible members and nominated dependants, would also certainly engage the efforts of the board chair and the management team of SSNIT.
SSNIT
SSNIT was established in 1972 under NRCD 127 to administer the National Social Security Scheme. Prior to 1972, the Scheme was administered jointly by the then Department of Pensions and the State Insurance Corporation. The Trust administered the Social Security Scheme as a Provident Fund Scheme until 1991 when it was converted to a Social Insurance Pension Scheme then governed by the PNDC law 247.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) 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.
Its mandate is to cater for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme. The Trust is currently the largest non-bank financial institution in Ghana.
The primary responsibility of the Trust is to replace part of lost income of workers in Ghana due to Old Age, Invalidity or Death of a member where dependents receive lump sum payment.
