Workers urged to plan towards retirement

Workers must begin to plan towards their retirement immediately they are employed and not wait until they have few years to go, Chief Executive Officer of National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Hayford Attah Krufi has said.

That, he said, would help them to be financially independent and not become a burden on their families.

Mr Krufi said this in Accra on Friday at a sensitisation programme for the media on pension matters in Ghana and NPRA activities.

It was under the theme, ‘Empowering the media to herald the Pensions agenda in Ghana.’

Mr Krufi explained that retirement was not a death sentence but a period for one to enjoy after years of hard work.

“In other jurisdictions, workers enjoy life well after retirement because they enjoy better monthly pension allowance,” he said.

Mr Krufi entreated the media to highlight more on pension issues and educate the citizens on the importance of signing on to a pension scheme.

He said pension was not only for formal government workers, but informal workers as well.

The Chairman of the National Media Commission, Yaw Boadu Ayeboafoh in his address entreated the media to educate themselves on pension terminologies to better write on the subject.

He also urged the media to endeavour to learn the legal framework under the NPRA and the pensions operated so as to understand the different tiers of pensions.

Mr Ayeboafoh also stressed that pension stories must be premised on hope and not fear.

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Roland Affail Monney urged workers not only to be concerned about monthly salaries but ensure that their pension contributions were paid by their workers.

He said pension allowance was what supported workers financially after retirement and that worker must take issues of pensions seriously.

Mr Monney said an award scheme had been instituted to reward reporters who wrote on pensions.

By Kingsley Asare