Pension: Less than 2 million of 12 million working Ghanaians covered – Baffuor-Awuah

There are about a dozen million Ghanaian workers but those covered by pensions schemes are under two million, the Minister of Pensions, Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffuor-Awuah, has said.

Speaking at the 55th-anniversary of the Ghana Co-operative Credit Unions Association Limited at Koforidua in the Eastern region, Mr Awuah encouraged the credit unions to work closely with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority to set up a trust scheme to enable informal sector operators save towards their future.

"We have roughly twelve million people working in Ghana but those who are on pensions are less than two million, which means that many of our people reach their pensions without being on any social security system", Mr Baffuor-Awuah indicated.

"We have together with the National Pensions Regulatory Authority begun programmes to enrol especially all persons within the informal sector of the economy. But I see a window in the credit unions because there are quite a number of informal operators who also are members of credit unions", he said.

At the event, the association demanded the exemption, by the government, of its members from paying taxes.

Its Board Chairman, Dr Bernard Bingab, said if that is done, the investments of credit unions would be protected.

Dr Bingab said: "One of my biggest appeals to our government is tax exemptions for co-operatives".

"Almost all African countries exempt co-operatives from tax. In recent years the Ghana Revenue Authority has clamped down on credit unions asking some to pay as high as one million cedis. Mr. Minister this is totally unwanted", he noted.

"This is a group that is there to help the country. Monies that we take as credit unions get back to the pool, so, we have difficulty as to why other African countries have exempted co-operatives and yet the credit unions are being asked to pay tax", he wondered.

Dr Bingab also noted: "As we navigate the future of credit unions, it is important to acknowledge that just as with any evolving industry, there are both threats and opportunities".

"The threat of cyber-crimes is significant to us. We have recently engaged the Cyber Security Authority to see how they can help us. As credit unions, we see the way to go is technology but there's a threat of cyber-crime", he added.