A private legal practitioner, Yaw Oppong, has supported calls for government to hand over the management of the second tier pension scheme of public sector workers to a private body. Funds deducted since the introduction of the scheme is being held in trust by government but Mr. Oppong believes the various labour groups should be given the opportunity to appoint their own trustee since the scheme is funded by them. “In my view since the Act says that it is privately funded and managed, and it comes from occupation or it is occupational- related, then the persons whose monies or whose properties are the subject of these particular instruments of trust, must be the ones who should appoint their own trustee because the basic principle of trust is that, the basic owner of the property is the one who will choose his own trustee. …These monies belong to the workers, so it is the worker or the person whose monies have been deducted who should have the right to appoint his own trustee,” the legal practitioner said. “The question to ask is that who owns the property? The property which is the subject matter of the second tier. Who does it belong to. As far as I’m concerned it doesn’t belong to the government or any employer,” he added. About 12 labour unions embarked on an indefinite strike on Wednesday, October 22, 2014 to protest government’s failure to pay their tier two pension funds into a privately managed account. Government has threatened to challenge the position of the labour groups. But speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue, Mr. Oppong clarified that government cannot sanction the unions since their decision to protest is legitimate. Meanwhile government has resorted to the court to seek interpretation of the Pension Act. Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu said: “Government intends through the Attorney General to proceed to court to seek a proper interpretation on aspects of provisions of the pensions Act and some clarifications on the second tier pension scheme and the role of employer and employee in the management of the fund”.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 05:39:09 +0000
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