NAGRAT gives govt one-week deadline to address unpaid pensions affecting 700,000 workers

NAGRAT President, Angel Carbonu, accused the government of financial impropriety during a press briefing on Thursday, April 18, 2024.

He specifically cited the non-payment of Tier 2 pension scheme contributions and other third-party deductions since July 2023.

Carbonu underscored that these deductions are being withheld from workers' salaries but not forwarded to the designated institutions.

This, according to NAGRAT, casts serious doubts on the future financial security of these workers, especially in retirement.

NAGRAT has issued a one-week ultimatum to the government, demanding the immediate transfer of all outstanding deductions to the appropriate institutions.

Carbonu warned that failure to adhere to this ultimatum could prompt further action to address what they perceive as financial misconduct on the part of the government.

He said "Workers of this country have continuously provided invaluable service to this nation. But unfortunately, the government we serve has decided to take from the Ghanaian workers and the various unions what even belongs to them. Every month workers pay dues to their unions and these dues are deducted from the salary of the workers. Also, workers are supposed to be deducted money from their salaries into their tier two -pension scheme so as to safeguard their future.

"Unfortunately, though these monies are taken and deducted by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department on behalf of the Ghanaian worker, the monies have not been transferred into the various institutions which are the destinations for these monies. And to give a clear example of the situation, the last time the government paid any money into the tier-two pension scheme was in June 2023."

"The way the thing is going, it is beginning to generate a large amount of disquiet at the labour front. The labour organizations like NAGRAT can no longer stay quiet to allow this financial malfeasance to continue. We want to state that by the close of next week Friday, all monies deducted from our members must be transferred immediately into the accounts of the institutions they are designated to be transferred to, otherwise, we don’t have any option than to embark on a series of activities to ensure that the right thing is done," he added.