The disclosure in Parliament Thursday that the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) had invested GH¢51, 600,000 of Ghanaian workers' money and earned only GH¢820,000 out of it as of 2004 has raised eyebrows and concerns about the fate of the trust. It also became clear during the sitting of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the investments were made in 40 unlisted entities, with only six of them being able to declare and pay dividends. It also emerged that while in 2005 SSNIT had paid GH¢63,000,000 as pensions to beneficiaries, it spent GH¢40,100,000 on administrative costs, a trend that prompted the Chairman of the committee, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, to remark that SSNIT was not established to employ people and pay administrative expenses. Those revelations appeared to have startled members of the committee, one of whom suggested that another body be established to invest social security contributions, while SSNT be mandated to only make collections of the money. It was a grueling time for the management of SSNIT, led by its Director-General, Dr Frank Odoom, as the management confidently tried to answer questions that seemed difficult. The Director-General hardly responded to concerns over the high administrative costs but assured the committee that there were bright prospects ahead, despite the challenges. Ably assisted by the General Manager of Investments, Mr Michael Addo, Dr Odoom said the introduction of the asset allocation policy and investment guidelines were aimed at ensuring that optimum benefits were derived from investments made by SSNIT. The management team argued that investments were for the long term and so the situation was not a hopeless one. But those arguments did little to assuage the concerns of the committee members. The MP for Bosomtwe, Mr Simon Osei-Mensah, was emphatic in his call for a careful scrutiny of the operations of the trust, saying, "There are serious systemic problems in the institution . . . I am not the least happy." He called for more engagements with the management of SSNIT, stressing that "it is our money they are managing, else we all lose". The MP for Nkawkaw, Mr Seth Adjei-Baah, asked whether it would not be prudent to form another body that would deal with investments, since it appeared SSNIT was not faring well in that area. Mr Kan-Dapaah also appeared not satisfied with the returns on investments. "Our pensions will go up if our investment decisions are good. It is the expectation of every Ghanaian that our investment decisions are prudent," he stated. The chairman was also worried about the high amount of money spent on administrative expenses. The report showed that in 2003 while GH¢28,900,000 was spent on the payment of pensions, GH¢26,600,000 was spent on administrative expenses. Similarly, in 2004, GH¢44,700,000 was spent on pensions, while GH¢36,900,000 was spent on administrative expenses. Mr Kan-Dapaah also expressed concern over some reconciliation that appeared not have been done, cautioning that SSNIT could not afford to make book-keeping errors. "In every human institution you should expect errors, but for certain institutions bookkeeping errors are not permissible," he stated. The management team from SSNIT also responded to some questions on the residential facilities put up by SSNIT. Mr Addo stated that the trust decided to sell the SSNIT flats because of the high cost involved in their maintenance. Source: Daily Graphic