5% OF COCOA FARMERS AND FISHERMEN PATRONISE PENSION SCHEME

By Oliver Griffin

You may remember in the last issue of Central Press, we highlighted some of the issues faced by those in the Cocoa industry. This issue, we have returned to look further into the deepening pension crisis that is affecting Ghana’s poorest, as they struggle to live after a long life of labour.



Lydia Adongo



Last issue, we discovered from Ebenezer Appiah (a Marketing Clerk of cocoa distribution) that cocoa farmers are crying out for an efficient and worthwhile pension scheme. I and the paper’s editor, Kwamina Bamfo, visited the Cape Coast SSNIT Informal Sector Fund – an organisation dedicated to providing pensions to hard working Ghanaians. However, after speaking to Lydia Adongo, a data entry officer, we discovered two things that gave cause for concern. The first was that less than five per cent of their clients were what they call ‘freelance’ workers. Included in the SSNIT definition of freelance workers you will find the likes of cocoa farmers and fishermen – workers who historically do not make much money. The fact that fewer than five per cent of people on their data base of active members work in these sectors must be telling of people ability to contribute money to the scheme. Mrs Adongo told us that SSNIT register people from the age of 15 years to 59 years, and that the rate of contribution is not fixed, that is to say, they can choose to contribute daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly.

This led us to our second question. How much money must workers contribute a day? The answer was 1 GHC.  1 GHC does not sound like a great deal of money to those that can afford it, but to people like Elizabeth Dankase, the cocoa farmer we interviewed recently, this is almost completely unaffordable.  Not only do farmers in her position not make much money from cocoa, they have to also pay their workers. 1 GHC a day would equate to 365 GHC a year. Taken from a total of 800 GHC from cocoa sold, this would leave her with a minimal 435 GHC with which to pay her workers and support her family. It’s all very well saving a pension with the dream of living well after your retirement, but if it results in barely being able to survive in the present then few people are going to be able to, or indeed want to, start saving for a pension at all.

In his interview, Mr Appiah said that the workers “are praying for the government to set up a pension scheme for the cocoa farmers.” I can only imagine that this sentiment is shared by fishermen and other such ‘freelance’ workers who worry about what kind of a future retirement holds for them. The Central Press would implore the Ghanaian government to seriously consider starting a good national pension scheme. They already have a working health scheme, so surely a pension scheme is not beyond the government’s capabilities. Ghana has a growing economy. In order for it to continue to grow, the workers that provide the stable base, such as the fishermen and cocoa farmers must be properly and fully supported; not left to fend for themselves in an uncertain environment.