The call on the government to take liability for the shortage in the payment of lump sums to pensioners and the removal of 7,000 ‘ghost’ names from the government’s payroll are some of the trending stories in the Ghanaian press on Wednesday. The Graphic reports that the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to take liability for the shortage in the payment of lump sums to pensioners who started retiring from this year under the new pensions law, the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766).

The Secretary-General of the TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah, made the call in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Ho yesterday on the sidelines of the Volta/Oti Regional Council Forum on Pensions.

He said it was the stance of the labour union that the government topped up the shortage on pensioners’ past credits and second tier contributions computed under the new law.

According to him, Act 766, which replaced PNDC Law 247 that created the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), established a three-tier pension regime, with the mandatory first tier managed by SSNIT and the second and third tiers by private fund managers.

The past credit is the contribution of workers to SSNIT whose retirement took place 10 years after the coming into force of Act 766.

The newspaper says that the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) has deleted 7,000 ‘ghost’ names from the government’s payroll this year.

The acting Controller and Accountant General, Mr. Kwasi Kwaning-Bosompem, said the names were removed after a team of auditors and accountants from the CAGD and the Auditor-General’s Department had toured the country to enumerate workers on government payroll.

At the launch of the monthly training for staff of the department in Accra yesterday, he said those who did not avail themselves to validate their names and details on the payroll during the exercise were taken out.

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