In the wake of the $72 million SSNIT software scandal, some pensioners have been sharing gory experiences about life after work and about how the institution in whose care their lives been entrusted is operating in the dark.
On Joy FM Ghana Connect programme, the pensioners, one after the other wailed over how much they are earning on pension; what went into calculation of their pensions; what their monies have been invested in.
In unison the pensioners were appalled by the decision to sink their hard earned cash into software automation system whose cost kept changing with every snap of a finger but whose final product was depressingly disappointing.
What begun in 2012 at a cost of $27 million with a laudable objective to automate the entire pension scheme and decrease the number of waiting period to access a SSNIT pension, has now become an object of great criticism because it has failed to achieve the purpose for which it was done.
Sadly, the cost of the project kept changing from $27 million to $34 million to $72 million or more but nothing substantive to show in terms of output except the outburst of Ghanaians and the wails of pensioners.
SSNIT, a financial institution
Even though it is a statutory Public Trust, a Pensioner of 13 years standing Abraham Koomson aptly described SSNIT as a “financial institution” whose officials do no sweat to get customers to transact business with them like other financial institutions do.
They sit in their offices and the monies flow into their chest through pension contributions and they decide to do what they want with it, he suggested.
He has little idea what his money and those of others have been invested in. As if his lack of knowledge about the investment decisions of SSNIT is not painful enough, he has little idea the factors that went into calculating his meagre monthly pension.
Abraham Koomson L, Francis Larkai R
Except for the fact that his pension is calculated as a fraction of his best three years’ salary during active service and the number of years served, Koomson hinted the actual formula for calculating the take-home pay for pensioners is kept by SSNIT officials as if it were the greatest, delicate corporate secret none other than a select few of SSNIT officials must know.
Despite several efforts to find out what the formula is, he failed because ‘corporate secret’ cannot be let out.
His worry is, the SSNIT officials who calculated these pensions are human beings who can make mistakes with the calculations and if he had the benefit of the formula, he could also engage his retiring mind into some arithmetic in order to ensure that what he has been paid is commensurate to his years of sweat in active service.
And for officials who make mistakes at a higher cost of $72 million or more with little to show for the effort and money invested, a call for transparency in the formula in calculating pensions is in the right direction. Isn’t it?
Pittance at home
Even though many dread going home after years of hard work in active service Stephen Boakye a pensioner with the National Association of Pensioners said “pension is not a death camp.”
He made an urgent call to active workers to begin planning “before you come on retirement.”
Speaking from experience Mr Boakye said he is earning less than 400 cedis a month as his pension salary, an amount which could only buy a few drugs at the pharmacy for a man his age.
That is the sorry story of many pensioners who are driven early to their graves because their monthly pensions cannot take care of the ailments they retire with, let alone to provide for their upkeep.
According to Mr Boakye, one of the members of his association who retired in the early 90s at an equivalent pension sum of 90 cedis is now earning less than 300 cedis in the year 2017.
He was unequivocal the “reason why we are not receiving enough pension is that we were not properly paid in active service. The salaries that we were supposed to have been paid we didn’t get that. Our employers didn’t do that. So when you come home whatever you have is what SSNIT will work on,” he lamented.
Restructuring at SSNIT?
Another pensioner, Engineer Francis Lakai believes the entire formula for calculating the pensions should be skewed to at least favour those in the lower salary brackets.
The pension should not be based on your salaries..The formula should be scaled; those in the lower salary scale should be put on a bigger scale than they are now.
Is $72 million justified for a software?
Selorm Branttie, of mPedigree who is into software believes the SSNIT debacle is a $72 million mistake that ought not to have happened.
He said not even a state institution like GCB will invest 72 million into a project like this.
Taking a critical look at some of the prices quoted for some of the project materials, Mr Branttie said the costs are outrageous.
“The price for call-centre software and hardware is $1.3million which is probably like 10 times what you should pay for that.
He said the SSNIT controversy should be a case study in business schools about how not to automate.
