Polytechnic teachers appeal to NPRA over pension funds
The Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) has called on the National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) to approve its choice of a fund manager to manage the pension funds of its members as required by law.
The General Secretary of POTAG, Mr Oswald Atiga, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic said since June 2013, all attempts to get the NPRA to approve their choice of a fund manager have proved futile.
He said earlier this year, POTAG, Ghana Association of Polytechnic Administrators (GAPA), Polytechnic Administrators Association of Ghana (PAAG), and the Teachers’ and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) responded to the National Pensions Regulatory Authority’s (NRPA) directive by choosing a fund manager, Trustee and a custodian to manage the pension funds of our members as required by law.
According to Mr Atiga, who is also a lecturer at the Bolgatanga Polytechnic, after series of meetings by members of the polytechnic community, namely PAAG, GAPA and TEWU, they settled on a fund manager, trustee and a custodian which was communicated to the NPRA in June 2013.
“Since June 2013, all attempts to get the NPRA to approve our choice of these institutions have proved futile”, the POTAG secretary said.
He said on November 24, 2013, the POTAG, PAAG, GAPA and TEWU reminded the NPRA through a letter giving them up to December 12, 2013 to approve their choice of fund manager, trustee and custodian but up to date, they had not received any response from the NPRA
“Information we have gathered from the grapevine is that the NPRA is dragging its feet so that by December 31, 2013, they would forcefully lump us together with other public sector workers and force us under a particular fund manager of their (NPRA) choice”.
He said the polytechnic community considered that very unacceptable because they had spent time, energy and money to search for suitable institutions to manage their pension funds and the NPRA had no right to choose a fund manager for them.
“We, therefore, demand an immediate approval of the institutions of our choice without delay”, Mr Atiga demanded, adding that “we remind the NPRA that we shall not cooperate with any fund manager they decide to impose on us after the December 31, 2013 if our letter of November 22, 2013 is not approved by Friday, December 20, 2013”.
Source: Daily Graphic