OVER 10,000 people have accessed the services of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) at its Mobile Service Week centres across the country, as of 1st September 2021.
Data available to SSNIT indicate that 40 out of the 51 branches of the Trust nationwide had recorded this number of people who visited the centres to access the Trust’s services.
The exercise ended last Friday, 3rd September 2021.
The SSNIT Mobile Service (SMS) Week is an annual exercise where the staff of the Trust pitch camp at vantage locations across the country to bring its services to the doorsteps of its Members and Clients.
Although this year’s SMS Week focused on creating a favourable platform to enable more informal sector workers to sign onto the SSNIT Scheme, other services provided at the various centres included the issuance of Statements of Accounts, SSNIT, and NIA numbers merger, and Renewal of Pensioner Certificates.
The rests are benefits processing initiation and benefit status verification, employer registration, submission and validation of Contribution Reports, resolution of compliance issues, and general inquiries.
The Pension House, Accra Central, and Kokomlemle centre had recorded more than 400 visits by Wednesday, 1st September 2021, and some of the remaining centres had also recorded between 200 to 300 visits from patrons and Members.
The Corporate Affairs Manager of SSNIT, Ms Afua Sarkidie, indicated to journalists that the exercise forms part of the Trust’s efforts to constantly engage with its Members and the public by focusing on member and client satisfaction.
“As of Wednesday, 1st September 2021, the number of people that had visited our centres was quite encouraging. This shows the growing interest in the Scheme and is indicative of the goodwill, support, and trust SSNIT has worked to establish with its Members and the public over the period”, she noted.
Informal sector participation
Currently, less than 20,000 Members out of over 1.6 million SSNIT contributors are self-employed.
As part of efforts to increase informal sector participation in the SSNIT Scheme, officials of SSNIT embarked on its Mobile Service Week exercise to provide solutions regarding registrations, contributions, and benefits under the Scheme.
Highlighting the steps being taken by SSNIT to rope in more self-employed workers onto the Scheme, Ms Sarkodie explained that the Trust will soon begin discussions with the leadership of various trade groups in the informal sector to expand coverage to its workers.
“These discussions are aimed at driving full participation of informal sector workers in the SSNIT Scheme by registering to join the Scheme and get benefits upon retirement, just as their counterparts in the formal sector”, she explained.
These groups include The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA), the Ghana Private Road and Transport Union (GPRTU), the Ghana Actors Guild, and small businesses under the Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), formerly, National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI).
BY Daniel Bampoe