NAGRAT issues one-week ultimatum to govt over unpaid pensions for 700K workers

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has expressed deep concern over the government’s alleged failure to pay mandatory contributions for over 700,000 Ghanaian workers.

NAGRAT President, Angel Carbonu, accused the government of financial misconduct during a press conference on Thursday, April 18. He specifically highlighted the non-payment of Tier 2 pension scheme contributions and other third-party deductions since July 2023.

Mr. Carbonu emphasized that these contributions are being deducted from workers’ salaries but not reaching the designated institutions. This raises serious doubts, according to NAGRAT, about the future financial security of these workers, particularly upon retirement.

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

Mr Carbonu said failure to comply with this ultimatum could result in taking further action to address what they perceive as financial malfeasance on the part of the government.

“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. ”