The Employment and Labour Relations Ministry has reiterated that no new Ministry has been created for pensions.
A statement issued by the Ministry and copied to the Ghana News Agency said the attention of the Ministry had been drawn to various news articles and social media suggesting that a Pensions Ministry has been created of which Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah had been appointed as its new Sector Minister.
“For the avoidance of doubt, no new such Ministry has been created,” the statement said.
“The letter emanating from the President only seeks to formally assign the two institutions that is, the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) and the National Security and Social Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah as an additional responsibility.”
The statement said the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations would therefore be grateful if all concerned would disregard the erroneous impression being created by the articles in the media and on various social media platforms.
Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah has not been appointed to a new Ministry.
He is still the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations.
What has happened is, Pension which should ordinarily be under his Ministry has formally been sent under his Ministry.
Naturally, Act 766, National Pensions Act 2008 implicitly put the Labour Minister in charge of pensions but somewhere during President Mahama’s administration it was sent to the Finance Ministry and it continued until it was detected recently.
Section 13 of the Act makes it an anomaly for the Finance Minister to be the Minister in Charge of Pensions simply because the Act states that the Minister responsible for Pensions should consult the Finance Minister in the determination of the allowances of the members of the Pension Board and Committee and so it is not possible for the Finance Minister to consult himself in paying that.
So the Minister per section 211 of the Act (interpretation) can’t be the Finance Minister but another Minister hence the add-on work for Mr Baffour-Awuah.
