SSNIT educate employers in Tema on Biometric registration system

By Benjamin Xornam Glover, Tema Employers and their representatives in Tema who are contributors to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) have been sensitized on the new biometric registration exercise slated to kick start on May 5, this year. The biometric registration exercise is intended at collecting biometric information of existing contributors and generating 13 alphanumeric social security numbers for those with eight-digit numbers. The biometric data will facilitate quick and easy verification of the identities of SSNIT contributors in future. Speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic at Tema after a sensitization programme for employers and their representatives the Tema Area Manager of SSNIT, Mr. Ahmadu C. Salia said the new system for the administration of social security seeks to provide superior service delivery to its stakeholders by employing appropriate technologies. He said the essence of the new SSNIT biometric registration is to enable the Trust improve on its service delivery to members and provide superior service to its contributors and pensioners under the scheme. Mr Salia explained that the registration will be done in phases at the workplace of employers as well as offices of SSNIT adding that officials from the Trust will contact employers and agree on the period to undertake the exercise. He appealed to managers of establishments to collaborate with SSNIT to make the exercise which seeks to facilitate quick and easy verification of members, modernize their records and information, update processing and eliminate multiple registrations and contributes to the speeding up in the payment of benefits, smooth and successful. Mr Salia expressed the hope that the new system when fully activated would help beneficiaries receive their claims between five and ten days as processing and registration cycle among others will be drastically reduced. He disclosed that the social security numbers for newly registered members would be generated and made available to a member or employers and registration would be done within two working days at all SSNIT branches adding that contributors who will be registered will be issued with SSNIT smart cards Mr Salia said the new system will also come with the Operational Business Suite (OBS) which will serve as an information kiosks, made up of a display screen card reader, a fingerprint scanner, a keyboard and a printer, which will be placed at vantage points to provide service to customers, since they would be accessible to all registered members of SSNIT with valid smartcards. Activities to be carried out in the information kiosk include viewing of transaction status, general enquiries and printing of statement of account. General Manager in charge of SSNIT Special Projects Rev Kweku Osei Bimpong appealed to employers to inform their workers not to rush to any SSNIT office for the biometric registration as very worker will be registered on schedule. The Tema Harbour Branch Manager, Mr. David D. Torkonoo appealed to employers and employees to co-operate with the Trust and put in the necessary effort to ensure the success of the project as they seek to ensure more efficiency in the operations of SSNIT in the country. -End-