Managing news editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt has said handing over the management of public sector workers second tier pension fund to private entities will be a highly risky venture.

He said there is no proof that the private sector will better manage the fund more efficiently than what government is doing or has already done.

Speaking on Radio Gold’s news analysis programme ‘Alhaji Alhaji’, Mr Pratt said “it is not true that the private sector is always a prudent manager. That is a baseless assumption because the private entity cannot be held liable if it misappropriates monies from the fund”.

Public sector workers across the country have embarked on a strike action protesting against government’s decision to manage their second tier pension funds saying it is in contravention of the Pension Law.

The workers say it is their right to manage the second tier pension fund or at least be allowed to appoint their own trustees to manage it.

But Mr Pratt says even though it was legitimate for the workers to demand that that they are engaged in the management of the fund and ensure that it is instituted in a manner which serves their needs, it will be irrational for them to demand that it be handed over to a private trustee. 

According to him, the fund if managed by government should give workers the guarantee that they can hold it accountable in the event it does not properly account for the fund or mismanages it. This he says cannot be the case for a private trustee.

He said workers should rather ensure that whatever problems they have with the fund while it is managed by government are appropriately addressed and that “handing over the fund to a private trustee will not solve the problem”.

He however expressed worry at what he says is “the deliberate attempt by the opposition New Patriotic Party to misinform the workers in order to make political gains. It is unfortunate, useless, unnecessary and must be discouraged”.

He said he NPP must refrain from poisoning the minds of workers and rather make contributions that will benefit them.

Mr Pratt also blamed government for delaying in addressing the workers' grievances which started as far back as June this year.

The practice of waiting for workers to embark on a strike before their complaints are addressed, he says is unfortunate and that government must make it a point to prioritise the needs of workers.