kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Security personnel would remain on the existing pension arrangements called Cap 30, government has decided.
The move has gladdened the hearts of security personnel who had grumbled over an earlier supposed plan to reverse the existing arrangement.
Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed the decision following a cabinet deliberation upon a report, the outcome of a study of the National Pensions Act.
The minister said the decision was arrived at because of the peculiar state of the occupations of security personnel not least the risks.
Personnel of the Ghana Police Service, the Immigration Service, the National Fire Service, the Prison Service and all other security and intelligence agencies can now heave a sigh of relief as government has already directed the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations to have the law amended to make room for the changes.
“Cabinet considers the recommendations of the report seeking the following actions for the completion of the unification process. One, the exclusion of the security services, that is, the police service, the immigration service, the National Fire Service, the Prison Service as well as other security and intelligence agencies.
“Two, the amendment of Act 766 to exclude the security service from the unification of pensions the cabinet decision spells out.”
Ghana began processes to unify its pension regime in 2018. With an approval from cabinet to develop a roadmap towards the unification of the regime by 2021, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations has engaged stakeholders within the sector in a bid to unify all parallel pension schemes and incorporate them under the three-tier system as stipulated in the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766).
By Melvin Tarlue