Mineworkers Union support President’s call to establish Social Partnership Council

By Kodjo Adams, GNA

Accra, May 2, GNA - The Ghana Mineworkers Union has supported a call by President Akufo-Addod for the establishment of Social Partnership Council to deal with pension issues in the country.

The Union believed that the Council would allow the actors to have a blended approach to think through many pressing challenges facing the country’s social issues and ensure that decisions made reflected the total interest of all.

Mr Prince William Ankrah, the General Secretary of the Union said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at an awards ceremony held for its workers in Accra for their contributions towards the growth of the economy.

He commended President Akufo-Addo for instructing the Ministry of Finance to arrange for the payment of GH¢200 million and a bond of GH¢700 million towards the retirement of the arrears owed to Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SNNIT) this year.

Government owns SNNIT over GH¢3 billion for more than six years and the President speaking at this year’s May Day celebration tasked the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to liaise with stakeholders to bring finality to all outstanding issues in the next three months.

He said the move by President Akufo-Addo to resolve the issues was a step in the right direction because the arrears had affected the Scheme’s operation to invest productively to pay a better pension.

Mr Ankrah said, for pensions to be sustained, it would mean employers must pay their contributions to the scheme without delay as required by law and assured mineworkers of their continuous commitment to pay their SNNIT contributions promptly.

He lauded the authority’s effort for the introduction of the pension scheme tier one to three, urging government to introduce a provident fund to help augment the funds of pensioners when they retired from active service.

Touching on the awards ceremony, Mr Ankrah said the awards ceremony was to motivate the workers to give their utmost best to the development of the country.

He said the ceremony was part of the activities of the Union’s 75th anniversary and advocated public private partnerships to sustain the local economies as a way of learning best practices from countries like the United States of America, Australians and South Africans.

Mr Ankrah appealed to government to establish buffer enterprises to offer alternative employment opportunities to sustain the local economies and ensure an integrated plan for accelerating socio-economic progress in the mining areas.

The workers won souvenirs in addition to laptops, fridges, tablets, air-conditioners, freezes, sound systems after a raffle draw. 

GNA

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