SSNIT has failed to live up to expectation – Addo-Kufuor

The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor has expressed disappointment in SSNIT, stating that the Trust has failed to live up to expectation.

He explained that over the years SSNIT has been bedeviled with unpardonable acts such as financial irregularities, improper management practices, high management costs and imprudent investments which have had a massive drain on the resources of the Trust.

“SSNIT has failed to live up to expectation because of these negative factors. But through the efforts of the new Board and the management over the last few months, the Trust is beginning to show signs of modest recovery.

“The Board is of the view that, SSNIT if well managed would be a formidable financial institution that could assist government in its serious attempts to resuscitate the national economy.

“Again, SSNIT well managed could also act as a magnet to attract considerable foreign direct investment into the country”, Dr. Addo-Kufuor added.

Addressing the media at the Pension House in Accra, the Chairman of the Board said the Board has engaged the services of PricewaterhouseCoopers to undertake an independent review and baseline assessment of SSNIT.

To ensure sanity in its work, Dr. Addo-Kufuor said the Board deemed it necessary to engage the services of an audit firm of national and global repute adding that the board initiated a national competitive tender in May 2017 to select a respected and competent audit firm to undertake a comprehensive review of the Trust.

The process according to him was undertaken as per the guidelines of the Public Procurement Act (Act 914).

PricewaterhouseCoopers has therefore been tasked to review the financial records and state of affairs of SSNIT for the period as at March 31, 2017, conduct an audit of the IT systems in use at the Trust, Review Human Resource Functions and comment on the adequacy of policies and systems for recruitment, training, performance management and compensation and also to assess the internal control and financial management systems.

The review is expected to be completed in eight weeks.