Pensions Authority Outlines Timetable For Switchover To New Scheme The National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) has outlined the time table for contributors of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), the Cap 30 and other similar pension schemes to switch to the new Contributory Three-Tier Pension Scheme.
The Chairman of the NPRA, Mr Richard Kwame Asante, who gave out the timetable at the Meet-the-press in Accra yesterday, said workers would be informed about the guidelines for transitional arrangements for mandatory schemes (first and second tiers) this month.
The new scheme comprises two mandatory schemes and a voluntary scheme. A first-tier basic national social security scheme, which is mandatory for all employees in both the private and public sectors and optional for the self-employed, will pay only monthly pensions and related benefits such as survivors and invalidity benefits.
The second-tier mandatory occupational (or work-based) pension scheme will be privately managed and mainly pay lump sum benefits.
The third-tier voluntary provident fund and personal pension schemes will be supported by benefit incentives to provide additional funds for workers who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension benefits.
Mr Asante said the Bank of Ghana (BoG) would open Temporary Pension Fund (TPF) accounts for the second-tier mandatory contributions. The management of the Board of Trustees which is to manage the TPF, would also be set up this month.
He said the implementation date for the mandatory scheme (first and second tiers) was January 1, 2010, while deductions of mandatory contributions would begin the same month.
He said a total of 18.5 per cent to be collected by SSNIT during the transitional period, pending licensing of trustees and registration of pension fund managers and custodians would also take place in January.
SSNIT would also lodge the total mandatory five per cent remittance to the second tier into the TPF account, with the BoG pending licensing of trustees and registration of pension fund managers and custodians.
Mr Asante said in February, there would be the transitional guidelines for registration of Provident Fund and Group Personal Pension Schemes, as well as guidelines on application for provisional approval as individual trustees.
Registration of Voluntary Provident Fund and Group Pension Schemes and approval in principle of Provident Fund comes off in March, while consultations on proposals for Basic National Social Security Scheme Regulations and Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes Regulations take place in April and May.
The issue of guidelines on licensing, scheme operations, investment and reporting requirements is in September, with licensing of trustees, registration of Pension Fund Managers and Custodians and approval of schemes and investment funds taking place in October.READ NEWS AT http://myghana.weebly.com
And in November, the BoG would transfer balances from Temporary Fund Account into Occupational Pension Fund Account operated by approved trustees. NDC Gurus In Crunch Meeting Key players within the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have held a crunch meeting, described by its General Secretary, Johnson Asiedu-Nketia, as frank, constructive and cordial, to heal what was festering between President Mills and some harsh critics within his own fold.
The meeting attracted party heavyweights, including Vice-President John Dramani Mahama; the Majority Leader, Alban Sumana Bagbin; the NDC Chairman, Dr Kwabena Adjei, Asiedu-Nketia, some Ministers of State, the leadership of the NDC Parliamentary caucus and other senior party members.
Absent at the meeting were former President J. J. Rawlings, his wife, Nana Konadu and Mr Harry Sawyerr, the Vice-Chairman of the NDC’s Council of Elders.
It is unclear whether former President Rawlings and his wife had been invited, but sources close to the party told the Daily Graphic that Mr Sawyerr had been indisposed, hence his inability to attend the meeting.
Sources close to the meeting said it was held in an open and frank manner as a platform provided by President Mills to the leadership of the party to raise their concerns.
They cited, for instance, the issue of not appointing experienced Members of Parliament as ministers, but President Mills was reported to have responded that it was because the party needed such hands in Parliament to provide guidance and leadership.
The President also explained to his party colleagues that not appointing someone a minister did not mean that person was irrelevant to the government.
According to the sources, some of the persons who had been heard on radio criticising the President claimed that the media had distorted what they meant to say, which in turn elicited counter criticisms from other party functionaries.
When contacted, the Presidential Spokesperson, Mr Mahama Ayariga, confirmed the meeting but would not disclose the issues raised, explaining that they were supposed to be purely internal matters.
He said the President had indicated, while he was in Tamale, that he would hold a meeting with the leadership of the party to discuss their concerns.
Mr Ayariga said the meeting ended amicably, adding that the commitment to participate in the meeting had been most crucial. Asked whether the issue of Cabinet reshuffle had been discussed, Mr Ayariga said nothing of that sort came up for discussion.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by Mr Asiedu-Nketia said the meeting was used to discuss the most appropriate way of dealing with concerns expressed by some members of the party regarding the internal communication process and the channels for addressing members’ concerns.
“The discussions were frank, constructive and cordial and those present at the meeting made useful suggestions about deepening the process of consultation between the Executive and the various arms of the party,” it said.
It said members present at the meeting agreed that the discussions held had been very useful and they had provided the opportunity for the Executive to clarify a number of concerns that had been raised and also give other members in attendance the opportunity to express their opinions on recent developments in the run up to the party’s congress to be held in January next year.
The statement said a decision was taken to make those consultations between the government and the party more regular features in order to ensure that unity, internal cohesion and the focus on dealing with the development challenges facing the nation were maintained.
“It was also decided that there would be an outreach programme to touch base with Ghanaians everywhere in order to assure them of the government’s unity and focus to improve their living conditions and fulfil the NDC’s manifesto,” it added.
It assured all Ghanaians and members of the NDC that the party was committed to working with the President to ensure that “this NDC administration is able to perform successfully and fulfil its manifesto commitment to build a better Ghana for all Ghanaians”.
The Majority Leader, Mr Bagbin, was reported in the December 10, 2009 edition of the Daily Graphic as saying that President Mills had made a move to eliminate the bad blood existing between him and some senior members of the NDC.
He said President Mills had held a series of meetings with the NDC’s hierarchy to eliminate the mounting tension within the party, as a result of criticisms against his administration by his own henchmen.
The President has recently come under fire from NDC stalwarts such as Mr Bagbin, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Information and Education in the first NDC administration, the Member of Parliament for Lower Manya, Mr Teye Nyaunu, and former President and founder of the NDC, Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings.
Among the accusations levelled against the President by these critics were the style of his administration and the type of people he had surrounded himself with.
However, Mr Bagbin disclosed that the President had already met the chairmen of the various constituency branches of the party in the Greater Accra Region to discuss matters agitating their minds.
That meeting, according to Mr Bagbin, was held before the President left for Trinidad and Tobago to attend the Commonwealth meeting.
Accused Request Full List Of Jurors Two of the three soldiers who have been accused of murdering the Northern Regional Chairman of the Convention People’s Party, Alhaji Issa Mobilla, have requested for a full list of the potential jurors who will be selected to decide their fate.
According to counsel for the accused persons, Mr Thaddeus Sory, Sections 246 and 252 of the Criminal Procedure Code enjoined the registrar of the court to allow his clients to have access to the full names and particulars of the potential jurors in the case for scrutiny.
Counsel submitted that his clients had the right to challenge the eligibility or otherwise of a juror, adding that his clients could only do that if they had access to the names and particulars of the potential jurors.
A Chief State Attorney, Mr Edward Agyemang-Duodu, however, vehemently opposed the application and stated that the accused persons had the right to challenge the jurors during empanelling.
He added that jurors could only be disqualified on the basis of their criminal records, potential to be prejudicial, partiality, blindness, inability to understand the English language, among others.
The Chief State Attorney said supplying the names of the jurors to the defence team had the tendency to have the jurors influenced, intimidated, as well as have their security threatened.
Later, Ms P. Mamattah, a State Attorney, moved a motion to have the jury confined throughout the trial on the grounds that the case had received media hype, resulting in the generation of controversy and public debate.
She said the state also feared for the safety of the jurors and explained that the case had to be transferred from Tamale to Accra because of tension.
According to her, there was the likelihood that the jury might be prejudiced by media publications and public opinion if they were not confined until the end of the trial.
She further disagreed with an assertion from defence counsel that the motion was premature and speculative and added that there was no guarantee that there would not be any eventuality in the course of the trial.
Opposing the application, Mr Sory said the motion had no legal foundation because the prosecution had failed to quote the aspects of the Criminal Procedure Code which gave room to the confinement of jurors in a murder trial.
He said in any case the prosecution had failed to demonstrate that there was, indeed, any threat in Accra, especially when the prosecution had earlier indicated that the matter was transferred from Tamale to Accra for security reasons.
Counsel further argued that media publication on the matter had gone on for long and indicated that it was rather the accused persons, not the prosecution, who had complained about the actions of some media houses.
Mr Sory stated that the court could order the media to publish only court proceedings on the matter and further described the prosecution’s application as “completely dangerous”.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Senyo Dzamefe, fixed December 17, 2009 for ruling on the two motions. FUNNIEST VIDEO EVER
Bush fires suspected to have been set by hunters are rapidly spreading through farms and destroying large acres of mango and cashew plantations in some parts of the Northern Region.
Some shea-nut trees have also been affected.
Owners of some of the destroyed farms who spoke to the Daily Graphic called for immediate action or the fires could lead to a massive destruction of other properties and even lives.
The actual extent of destruction is yet to be known but the farmers attributed the fires to the annual cycle of bush burning by hunters in pursuit of game.
They called on the government and agencies such as the Ghana National Fire Service and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to intensify efforts at educating people on bush fires, particularly at the onset of the harmattan.
They drew attention to last year’s experience when more than 500 mango trees cultivated with support from the Integrated Tamale Fruit Company (ITFC) were destroyed by fire, leading to huge losses to the farmers and the company.
Mr Louis De Bruno Austin, General Manager of the ITFC, the company which provides financial support for most of the mango plantations, proposed the enactment of a national fire law which would make the burning of bushes a criminal act.
He proposed that such a law should have provisions that placed the responsibility of preserving bushes from being set on fire in the hands of chiefs and communities to make it possible to apportion blame when there was a fire.
Mr Austin said such a move would also engender community ownership of the vegetation to promote environmental governance and management.
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