Don’t touch our pensions – Universities’ Senior Staff warn govt
The Senior Staff Association-Universities of Ghana (SSA-UoG) has sounded a strong word of caution to the government not to touch their pensions in its debt restructuring programme.
The association in a press statement described the programme as insensitive to the economic conditions which keep worsening by the day.
They feared the government will touch the pension funds of its members under a debt restructuring programme, warning that they will fiercely resist any attempts to have the programme rolled out.
“We, the Senior Staff of Public Universities in Ghana, see this action by the government as insensitive behaviour towards the ordinary Ghanaian worker who continues to render invaluable services to Mother Ghana. Even under these unbearable and harsh economic conditions. Which can, at best, be described as self-inflicted by the very people who were supposed to initiate policies towards alleviating the unabated suffering of the ordinary Ghanaian.
“We will, therefore, resist this insensitive action by the Government with the last drop of our blood and insist that under no circumstance should government touch our hard-earned pension contributions,” the statement warned.
The Association also warned the fund management firms handling their pensions not to collaborate with the Government on the programme’s implementation.
“We are sounding a word of caution to the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), our Fund Managers, (Petra Trust), and our Board of Trustees, to ensure that our contributions are not affected by this so-called ‘Debt Restructuring Programme,” SSA-UoG said in its statement.
They recommended the government to operate a lean Government by cutting down on the number of Ministers and other appointees, reduce the number of SUVs in Presidential convoys; and also cut in the salaries of all Government appointees, as a way to restructure its debt effectively.
“We believe that these measures will go a long way to help reduce the expenditure of the Government, and by extension, improve Ghana’s debt situation rather than the haircutting of individuals’ investments. We want to take this opportunity to appeal to the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations as a matter of urgency, to carry out a recalculation of all the accrued interest on our Tier-2,” the Association added.
Click here to read the full statement
By: Kabah Atawoge
