Former CEO of the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA), Dr. Daniel Seddoh says there is the need to develop a well-regulated capital market for pension schemes like SSNIT to invest in.

According to him, this would enable long-term investments that are transparent and provide the desired growth for the country.

Speaking on JoyFM’s Super Morning Show, he said "What we need to be doing is to be paying attention to our capital market. The situation where we contribute money, that is we take money from people by law, that is contribution to social security, and then in turn, give it to government in the name of bonds, treasury bills, then some of these other transactions. It doesn't serve the purpose of pension, we need to develop a capital market, which is well regulated."

He pointed out that a significant portion of pension funds is tied up in domestic debt, which may not be the most effective strategy for national development.

“The country is looking for long term investment. The long term investment channel is the pensions but if you pay attention clearly with the domestic debt exchange issue that happened, a significant amount of money from the pension schemes were locked up in domestic debt.”

“We can’t develop a country thinking along these lines the governance issues which is also affecting the way the scheme has been managed because you have this thing of representation. “

Dr. Seddoh stated that, four workers union representatives were present during the process of selling a 60% stake in four hotels owned by SSNIT.

According to him, the four failed to prevent the transaction in the boardroom which is now in the public domain.

“Should we still be talking about representation or be talking about people with the required skill set in our boardrooms that can speak truth to power and insist that the right thing is done, that we can have pension schemes that can serve all of us.”

"Remember, it is a social scheme. All of us will get there one day, that we would need the support from a social scheme,” he said.