Dubbed “Pension for Market Series,” it is expected to provide at least 500,000 Ghanaians in the informal sector with a pension cover in the next five years.

At the launch in Accra (January 30, 2017), the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the People’s Pension Trust Ghana Limited, Mr Samuel Bediako Waterberg, said the company intended to drive technology to penetrate a segment of  the market within the informal sector.

“Though there are no official data on the industry, we believe there are about 10million informal workers with any pensions cover presently. So, if we are able to at least reach 500,000 people, we will be able to be commercially viable,” he said.

“We are, however, resolved to make the biggest social impact by providing a secure future for Ghanaians working in the informal sector to reduce old age poverty,” he said.

He called for a revision in the regulations of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), which is only centered on the formal sector.

He also urged the regulator of the NPRA to partner the pension scheme providers to campaign about benefits of the tier three pension schemes across the country.

Stop depending on your children

The Market queen of the 31st Makola Market, Madam Mercy Nii Djan, encouraged the traders to take their future into their own hands and stop depending on their children and families in their old age.

“It is very important for the informal sector to take advantage of the group and personal pension schemes to secure their future retirement income,” she said.

The Madam Djan allayed the fears of the traders that the authority, on a continuous basis, monitors and supervises the activities of the trustees and other service providers managing the fund to ensure its safety.

Supporting the informal sector

For her part, the Assistant Corporate Affairs Manager of National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Mrs Rosina Akrofi, said the pension scheme for the informal sector was specially introduced by the government to support the sector.

She noted that provision had been made in the third tier voluntary personal pension schemes to cater for the peculiar needs of workers in the informal sector of the economy who constituted about 85 per cent of workers in the country.

This means that farmers, fishermen, market women, drivers, traders, and other self-employed could now participate in a pension scheme, which will take care of them in their old age.

According to her, the design of the new pension scheme would ensure that workers in the informal sector just like their counterparts in the formal sector also received monthly pensions, as well as lump sum benefits when they retire.

In her presentation, Mrs Akrofi educated traders in the market about the 3-Tier Pension Scheme and the special pension scheme for the informal sector workers.

She said contributions from the informal sector workers would be divided into two accounts namely retirement account and savings account, explaining that members of the scheme could withdraw from the savings account to improve their businesses and payment of school fees while contributing.

“The accrued benefits in the retirement account are preserved till retirement of the member for the payment of monthly pensions,” she added.

Mrs Akrofi noted that just as workers in the formal sector earned a regular income during their retirement, the informal sector workers who joined and contributed to a pension scheme under the group or personal pension schemes would also enjoy pension benefits in a form of lump sums and monthly or quarterly pension at their old age.