Pension Authority to prosecute Employers if...

Employers in the country have until July this year to register all employees onto the tier three of the Pensions Scheme or face prosecution. “We are serving [notice to] all the employers that they have up to 1st July 2013 to join or register a scheme or face prosecution and the penalties are severe. "For each director of the company that refuses to sign there is a fine or imprisonment or both. So employers, be warned,” CEO of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority Sam P Yalley said on Citi FM on Friday. According to him only 5,000 people have so far been registered out of a potential 30,000 are registered under the scheme. Yalley said that plans are far advanced to enroll all security forces with the exception of military officers. “We hope by the end of this exercise and where we are now and the steps we are taking, Ghana’s Pensions Industry will take its proper place in the finance industry." The General Manager in charge of Legal, for SSNIT, Peter Ayigbor said under the law, employers have 30 days within the commencement of operation to registers employees. “If you don’t do this it means you have infringed the law," he said. He also advised employees to report to SSNIT immediately if their employers fail to enroll them onto the pension scheme.