Archie Hesse
Government has resumed the payment of the allowances of teacher and nurse trainees through the e-Zwich biometric system.
The move is expected to ensure transparency, proper audit trail and prevent impersonation.
The payment of the allowances to the teacher trainees has been handed over to the Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF), while the Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) will run the payment to the trainee nurses on behalf of the Health Ministry.
The disbursement of the allowances to the trainees will be done through the e-Zwich system.
The use of e-Zwich to disburse such funds is also expected to inculcate in the students the habit of using electronic payment cards and eventually discourage the overreliance on cash for transactions.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS), Archie Hesse, commended government for allowing the payments to be made through e-Zwich.
GhIPSS has been setting up agents to offer e-Zwich services to complement the financial institutions in order to make the service readily available to the teeming number of people who now use it.
A number of banks’ Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) are also being reconfigured to accept e-Zwich cards, just to increase the number of channels through which e-Zwich can be accessed.
Mr. Hesse said GhIPSS will continue to work to ensure that e-Zwich cardholders enjoy smooth service at all times.
He explained that there are designated staff who visit the agents, the financial institutions and the ATMs to ensure efficient delivery of service.
The GhIPSS boss urged the banks to see the payment of nurse and teacher trainee allowances as an opportunity for them to win over new depositors.
He therefore challenged them to find innovative ways to make the use of e-Zwich cards an enjoyable experience that will endear the students to the banks.
Currently, student loans, National Service allowances, Youth Employment Agency remunerations and the various government social intervention programmes are carried out through the e-Zwich with the nursing and teacher trainee allowance being the latest.
This implies that huge transactions will be done through the e-Zwich.
Mr Hesse also urged shop owners to get hybrid Point of Sales (POS) devices in their shops so that they can also tap into the phenomenal growth that the e-Zwich is experiencing.
The hybrid POSes accept both e-Zwich and domestic cards.
A business desk report