The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), the main umbrella organisation for trade union activities in the country, has recommended the publication of findings into the $72 million software scandal at the state pensions trust.

TUC says it welcomes the audit commissioned by the Board of Directors of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) into the possible financial malfeasance in the award of an Operational Business Suite (OBS) contract to IT firms, Perfect Business System and Silverlake Consortium.

“The TUC will await the outcome of the audit before taking further action. We expect that the audit is conducted with dispatch and that the outcome would be made public. The TUC would like to assure the working people of Ghana and the general public that it will work with the other representatives of Labour on the SSNIT Board to secure the Fund,” TUC said in a statement after its Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday, August 29, 2017.

Audit firm, PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is currently probing how the OBS contract, earmarked to cost $34 million, ballooned to an excess of $70 million amid suspicion that top SSNIT officials that spearheaded the award of the contract failed to conduct due diligence or carried out underhand dealings.

IT experts who have commented on the controversial contract say the OBS could have been obtained at a fraction of the initial $34 million if proper scoping of the project was carried out.

Related: EOCO interdicts SSNIT’s IT boss over fake degrees

Meanwhile, the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) on Tuesday raided the premises the two IT firms that won the contract.

A similar raid at the residence of the Chief Executive Officer of Perfect Business Solutions is aimed to intercepting documents covering the murky deal.

Read TUC's statement below.

Press Statement

At its regular Steering Committee meeting held today, 29^th August 2017, the TUC deliberated extensively on the numerous scandals at the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

We welcome the audit commissioned by the Board of Directors. The TUC will await the outcome of the audit before taking further action.

We expect that the audit is conducted with dispatch and that the outcome would be made public.

The TUC would like to assure the working people of Ghana and the general public that it will work with the other representatives of Labour on the SSNIT Board to secure the Fund.

We urge managers of SSNIT to recognize that the retirement income security of millions of Ghanaian workers is in their hands and that any act that jeopardizes the Pension Scheme will not be tolerated.

Dr. Yaw Baah

Secretary General

For: Trades Union Congress (Ghana)

Accra, 29^th August, 2017