President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo says the over GH¢3 billion arrears owed to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) by government, which has been outstanding for more than six years, will be settled by the end of 2020. According to him, the Ministry of Finance has already arranged for the payment of GH¢200 million and a bond of GH¢700 million towards the retirement of the arrears owed to SSNIT this year. “As I told you last year, over ¢3 billion of pension funds, funds that had been outstanding for six years and about which TUC has been largely complaining were transferred in 2017 from the Temporary Pensions Fund Account (TPFA) at the Bank of Ghana to the appropriate occupational pensions scheme,” the President said when he addressed the 2019 May Day celebrations in Accra on Wednesday. “I’m informed that the Ministry of Finance has arranged for payment of ¢200million and a bond of ¢700 million towards the retirement of the arrears owed to SSNIT. This will leave arrears of ¢800 million which will be included in next year’s budget,” he added. Acknowledging that there were unresolved issues with SSNIT and the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), President Akufo-Addo said he had tasked the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations to liaise with the two bodies to bring finality to all outstanding issues in the next three months. "Pensions fund management and trustees have a lot of work to do to build and retain the trust of workers. In much the same way that we should build trust between workers and the new private companies, it’s equally important that there’s trust between workers and the state established SSNIT,” he said. Bemoaning the poor living conditions of some pensioners, President Akufo-Addo said he would ensure that a universal pension scheme is instituted to ensure a robust economy and prosperous society for all. This year’s celebration was on the theme “Sustainable Pensions for All - The Role of Social Partners”.