Pensioners forge documents

Wa, Sept. 6, GNA - The Controller and Accountant-General's Department (CAGD) last year handed over to the police for prosecution 29 pensioners who falsified documents to enable them enjoy Cap 30 Pension. Most of these arrested pensioners joined the Public Service in 1972 and therefore, did not qualify for pension under Cap 30, Mr Christian Sottie, the Controller and Accountant-General told Pensioners at Wa. He was interacting with government pensioners in the Upper West Region as part of his two-day visit to the Region.

He warned that Cap 30 documents presented for processing and payment were being meticulously scrutinised and therefore any pensioner who forged any document, would be found out and arrested. "Workers who are not qualified to enjoy Cap 30 come pestering me in my office and when they fail, some of them go back and forge documents, thinking that they will not be caught," he said.

Mr Sottie said that Cap 30 was very strict and specific, and therefore those who think the law could be changed to cater for them, should have brought up their cases at the time it was being passed. He assured the Pensioners that a new system was being installed to address all delays associated with pension payments, after which all arrears due them would be paid.

The non-clarification of what constituted 'Additional Duty Allowance' in the consolidated salaries of health workers, he said, was posing a major problem in working out pensions for health workers who were retiring.

The Pension Law excluded allowances from pension calculations, he explained. The Pensioners complained about delays and discrepancies in the payment of pensions and wanted to know the whereabouts of their Social Security contribution, which they said ought to be paid to them.