Director-General of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Dr. John Ofori-Tenkorang has reiterated the essence of the GhanaCard to saving the state pensions body several millions of dollars in the long term, if it is properly synced to capture the bio data of all working Ghanaians and their survivors.
According to him, only 2 million of the estimated 10 million working Ghanaians in both the formal and informal sectors are active SSNIT contributors and have been issued with biometric identity cards, while efforts are being made to get the other 8 million on board.
Speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the 2022 TUC/SSNIT Regional Engagement programme in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday, Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang emphasized the importance of the GhanaCard, which has effectively replaced SSNIT’s own ‘SSNIT Card’, which were being printed at the cost of $7 per issue since the year 2014.
Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang said up to $126 million could be saved in the long term if all the 10 million working Ghanaians with at least one survivor each are registered and integrated into the SSNIT system using their national ID cards.
“We have been able to issue only 2 million SSNIT Cards to our contributors; this means that we will save some $56 million now that the GhanaCard is the sole biometric card to be used to register the remaining 8 million working Ghanaians onto the SSNIT system; that aside, about $70 million would be saved if each survivor of the 10 million potential contributors uses the GhanaCard. This would save SSNIT $126 million overall, in the long term,” the SSNIT boss explained.
“I think this is the point that the Vice President was trying to make, so it should not be taken out of context. If you think progressively about the benefits of the GhanaCard to SSNIT in the long term, you would appreciate that what the Vice President said was apt,” Dr. Ofori-Tenkorang added.
Since July 1, the GhanaCard has been the only identification recognized by SSNIT; this is in compliance with Regulation 7(1) of the National Identity Register Regulations, 2022, L.I 2111 which requires the use of the GhanaCard as identification for “transactions pertaining to individuals in respect of pensions” and “transactions that have social security implications”.
Members of the Trust have had to merge their SSNIT and NIA numbers to be able to access pensions and other social security related services; employers are now required to use only the NIA numbers of their workers to process Contribution Reports and make payments.
Voluntary contributors have also had to pay their contributions using their NIA numbers only.
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