President John Agyekum Kufuor has asked the Board of Directors of troubled Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) not to allow personal interest, greed and subversion to get the better part of their judgement otherwise they would betray the nation.
He said they should manage the fund efficiently, profitably and with transparency for contributors to benefit on retirement. President Kufuor was swearing into office 13 out of the 14 members of the SSNIT Board at the State House in Accra.
President Kufuor said the immediate past records of SSNIT lacked transparency in their transactions. "Some people became leeches and sucked blood from the institution, which has been the convergent point of the government, employers and workers contribution to make life better for workers on retirement."
He said the government has resolved not to politicise SSNIT that was why no Minister of State has been put on the Board. The government would not create any subsidiary company but the Board would have the exclusive responsibility to put the fund into viable ventures that would increase the stock of wealth for workers.
President Kufuor told them that when they decide to invest they should be motivated by the principle of good returns for the workers. They should make sure investments were made in profitable ventures.
"You are not in business of your own to inflate cost of goods for your selfish ends. If SSNIT is managed well it could be an institution that would be next to the Bank of Ghana (BOG). We believe that you have the managerial capacity to manage the assets of SSNIT well."
The Chairman of the SSNIT Board, John Sackah Addo, said it would strive to justify the confidence the government has in them by giving of their best. He said statutory provisions and policy guidelines would form the basis of their decisions and expressed the hope that together with the management they would work efficiently.
The members include Dr A. Akoto Osei of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana (BOG), Mr. K. S. Asafu Adjaye, a lawyer, Dr Edmund O. T. Prempeh, a businessman, Mrs. Faustina Mensah, an industrialist and Mrs. Rose Karikari Anang of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA).
The others are Mr. Kwasi Adu Amankwaa, Secretary-General of Trades Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Napoleon Kpoh, General-Secretary of Industrial and Commercial Union of TUC, Mr. W. Kusi-Atansah of Ghana national Association of Teachers (GNAT), Alhaji Yakubu Ziblim of the Civil Servants Association (CSA), Mr. Thompson Kuduo Abu-Bakr Bibilazu, Acting Director of the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment and Mr. Kwesi Osei, Director General of SSNIT.
The only member absent was Dr Charles Mensa of the Ghana Employers Association (GEA).
