Stop Tier 2 Pension Deductions - Teacher Unions To GES

Four teacher unions have ordered the board of trustees of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Occupational Pension to stop paying pensions to the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA). The government is being charged with defaulting on the payment of contributions to the Ghana Education Service Occupational Pension Scheme (Tier 2) for eight months, according to the unions.

Angel Carbonu, President of NAGRAT, in an interview said the directive is to allow the Authority time to pay all arrears. “The NPRA is the mandated state institution meant purposely to regulate pensions in this country so if the NPRA is not up to the task, then we are afraid for the pension scheme and the new pension policy. We do not want to melt ourselves down to what SSNIT has become.

Therefore, the institutions that have been mandated by the state and law, should be up and doing and not see themselves as an extension of government and appendages of certain ministries.” The teacher groups pushing for this demand include the Teachers’ and Educational Workers Union, the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Ghana National Association of Teachers.