Dr John Ofori Tenkorang
GOVERNMENT HAS assured that the use of the Ghana Card will eliminate the cost associated with the printing of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Biometric Cards.
Director General of SSNIT, Dr John Ofori-Tenkorang, and the Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), made this known to the media at the Information Ministry Wednesday in Accra.
Currently, the SSNIT biometric cards are printed upon request at a cost to the member.
The adoption of the Ghana Card is a legal requirement. Regulation 7(1) of the National Identity Register Regulations, 2012, L.I. 2111, requires the use of the Ghana Card for “transactions pertaining to individuals in respect of pension”.
The Social Security and National Insurance Trust has since Monday, 28th June 2021, deployed systems for Members to merge their SSNIT and NIA numbers.
This merger is simply a process to link the SSNIT numbers of Members to their NIA numbers, i.e. the Personal ID Number on the Ghana Card.
The NIA numbers will become SSNIT members’ numbers after the merger.
According to SSNIT and NIA, SSNIT’s members could now use the Ghana card for multiple transactions.
This implies that members do not have to carry a separate card for SSNIT transactions.
For instance, nominated dependants of deceased members will easily be identified.
This will help avoid unnecessary delays and reduce fraud and impersonation in processing and paying survivors’ benefits, according to them.
The adoption is also in fulfilment of a directive from the National Pensions Regulatory Authority.
The trust has deployed two platforms for members of the SSNIT scheme to merge their SSNIT and NIA numbers. They could use the USSD short code *711*9# or go to the trust’s website.
By Melvin Tarlue