The Minister of Employment, Labour Relations and Pensions, Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, has inaugurated a new office for the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) in Koforidua.
The new office will bring the services of the NPRA to the doorstep of workers in the Eastern, Oti and Volta regions of the country.
At the inauguration ceremony, Mr Awuah indicated that the office was built to address the concerns of workers, especially those in the informal sector, in the regions.
This, he said would also enable the NPRA to educate workers on the need to join pension schemes to ensure their financial security.
He said out of the 12 million workers in the country, less than two million were enrolled on to the scheme and appealed to workers, especially those in the informal sector to join to secure their future financial needs.
Mr Awuah said there was the need to increase enrollment of workers onto the pension scheme, especially in the informal sector to provide financial security for workers when they retire.
He said workers should ensure that as they were employed or doing their own work, they should also consider their pensions and work towards it.
For his part, the Board Chairman of the NPRA, Mr Paul Simon, said per the Pensions Act, NPRA was enjoined by Act 766 to go to every region of the country and the inauguration of the office in Koforidua was to fulfill that mandate, and to enable the NPRA to educate people on pensions as well as regulate schemes under them.
He revealed that for the past 13 years, the Authority had been at the helm of affairs and had made tremendous progress in the promotion of development of the pension scheme industry in the country, adding that a lot more had joined the scheme but was still inadequate.
The minister stressed the need for more workers, especially those in the informal sector to be enrolled onto the scheme.
He disclosed that the fees and charges paid to enable workers join the scheme, had been reviewed, and therefore encouraged workers to join pension schemes available in the country.
Mr Awuah also called on Trust Groups to approach the NPRA for licensing as well as open offices across the region.
For his part, the Chief Executive Officer of NPRA, Mr Hayford Attah Krufi, said that a pension scheme had been set up for cocoa farmers and talks were underway to do same for members of the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU).
He, therefore, encouraged other Trust groups to approach the NPRA for licence to operate.
He said education on pensions was very low and encouraged workers to join as they would be in need of pensions for their own financial security.
Mr Krufi warned employers who had refused to do pension scheme for their employees, adding that those who refused would be dealt with according to law.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA