SSNIT had 135 bank accounts

The Dispatch writes in its banner story that although it is appropriate for staffs of the Social Security Bank and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to be paid well, there is the need for a thorough review of their far above average salaries as strengthened by an Attorney-Generals (A-G) report.

The story says a 115-page report of the A-G on the public accounts of Ghana for a three-year period ending December 31, 1997 reveals that at one stage, SSNIT had 135 banks, of which only 44 reconciliation statements had been prepared as at the time of the report.

Dispatch says the report also found out that several issued cheques, totalling 3.2 billion cedis, some dating as far back as 1994, had not been presented and therefore remained stale and invalid.

According to the story, on non-confirmation of benefits paid by SSNIT, the report said, "we were unable to confirm the total amount of benefits paid by the Trust during the year under review (1996)

Dispatch has it that there was a discrepancy of 964.91 million cedis between the Accounts Department's records which showed a total amount of 20.37 billion and the Claims Department's figure of 21.34 billion cedis with the difference explained as resulting from processed but unpaid claims that were not taken into account by the Accounts Department.

The story says following the A-G's report, management had put in place corrective measures, including a reduction in the number of bank accounts from 135 to "only five main ones" and "the strict enforcement of weekly reconciliation of the main bank accounts."