The National Pensioners Association (NPA) of Ghana is proposing automatic membership to the Association as a solution to the ballooning payments to ghost pensioners by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).
The proposal, made for the consideration of the Director-General of SSNIT, is to complement existing validation mechanisms aimed at eliminating ghost names from SSNIT’s pension database.
The issue of ghost names on SSNIT pension payments has resurfaced. Chairman of the National Pensioners Association of Ghana, Michael Asamoah Mfoafo, in his address at the 6th Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Association at Busua in the Western Region, suggested that SSNIT devises a mechanism to make all pensioners automatic members.
This, they believe, can end the recurring payments to ghost pensioners.
“Director-General though the constitution guarantees freedom of association, if a way could be found to make all pensioners automatic members of NPA, if implemented, payment of ghost pensioners would be a thing of the past, and I believe this will be a legacy pensioners will ever cherish during your tenure,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, the General Manager in charge of Benefits at SSNIT, Frank K.M. Molbila, indicates that the Trust, effective April 2026 under a new pensioner certificate policy, will require all pensioners to undertake an annual pensioner authentication on their respective birthdates. He detailed a number of systems deployed to ease the burden on pensioners in accessing SSNIT’s services.
“We are co-partnering with a lot of banks, so you can move there to renew your pensioner certificate. Again, our pensioners who are of age or ill and cannot physically move about and may also not be able to use the mobile app will just have to call our contact center, tell us their location, and a SSNIT staff will physically move to come to your house to assist you with your renewal,” he emphasized.
In a related development, General Secretary of the Association, Henry Boakye, has reminded SSNIT of its 2011 promise to hand over the Henry Dei Pensioners Recreational Center with a call for the NPA to be allowed to take over the management of the facility.
“On the Henry Dei Pensioners Recreational Center, we continue to express our gratitude to SSNIT, but we also think the time has come for us to take over.
“In 2011 SSNIT promised that it would run the place for two years only and appointed Broll Limited, to manage the center. We have not been happy with their management practices, and we have communicated same to the SSNIT. We are hoping SSNIT will hear our cry,” he elaborated.
SSNIT is convinced that the new policy, together with the digital tools it has deployed, will strengthen the integrity of the pension scheme.
By Abraham Mensah
