New pension scheme to be implemented in phases

THE implementation of the new three-tier pension scheme, scheduled to start from January next year, will be carried out in phases to ensure smooth transition.
To make issues clearer to the working public, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) says it will come out with a detailed timetable and guidelines before the scheme kick-starts.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Project Consultant to the NPRA, Mr Daniel Aidoo Mensah, said since there existed different pension schemes (Social Security and National Insurance Trust and CAP30) as well as workers in both the formal and informal sectors, the timetable would come out with the period at which each group could join the scheme.
He said to get the public to have a better understanding of the issues involved, the authority would from November 24, 2009 begin organising a series of educational programmes for selected media practitioners and other identifiable social commentators to enable them to adequately educate others on the new scheme.
Mr Mensah said that would make issues much easier to understand by both the formal and informal sector workers and also ensure a smooth changeover from the existing schemes to the new one.
The new pension scheme, which was established under the National Pension Act 766 of 2008, is to provide for pension reform in the country by the introduction of a contributory three-tier pension scheme.
It is also to see to the establishment of a National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to oversee the administration and management of registered pension schemes and trustees of registered schemes as well as the establishment of a Social Security and National Insurance Trust to manage the basic national social security scheme.
This scheme will cater for the first-tier of the contributory three-tier scheme and provide for other related matters.
President John Evans Atta Mills officially launched the National Pension Scheme on September 16, 2009 in Accra and emphasised the need for a vigorous public education and awareness raising campaign.
The authority has so far come out with a 10-member board of directors which has for the past few months been preparing for the start of the scheme in January next year.
The Chairman of the board is Mr Kwame Asante, a renowned Chartered Accountant.
To achieve the desired objective in the area of awareness creation, the board has decided that before any comprehensive campaign could begin, a training programme should be organised for media personnel and other identifiable social commentators on the main essentials of the scheme throughout the country.
Touching on the training programmes, Mr Mensah said the authority had acknowledged the importance of awareness creation, hence the decision to organise them throughout the country.
He explained that the programme would be held for management level editors, selected government officials, reporters and presenters, public relations officers (PROs) and media analysts, adding that they would be taken through topics such as: “The Need for Pension Reform”; “Structure of the New Scheme”; “Benefits of the New Pension Scheme” and “Governance and Safeguards and Informal Sector”.
Mr Mensah said the objective of the programme was to raise awareness about the major highlights of the new pension scheme among a particular target audience, especially media practitioners.
He said that would allow the media personnel and analysts to sufficiently play their role as educators on the schemes as well as provide the opportunity for networking among those who would want to specialise in reporting on the new scheme.