Mrs. Freda M. E. Ampofo, Sunyani Branch Manager-Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), has advised employees -- especially public workers -- to show utmost interest in the ongoing biometric registration exercise by the Trust in order to spare them from enduring the shock of any avoidable consequence.

She said relevant institutions like the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department (CAGD) rely heavily on bio-data from the exercise to feed its payment system, and workers who fail to comply will have to bear the consequence of salary deferment as happened recently.

Earlier this week, it was reported that the CAGD has withheld the salaries of 3,794 government workers who did not have their social security numbers with the Department. Beginning from October this year, the affected government employees will expectedly not receive their salaries until they furnish the CAGD with the required social security numbers as well as justify their delay in submitting their numbers.

But in an interview with Business and Financial Times at Sunyani, Mrs. Ampofo said those workers could have avoided such a situation if they had embraced the all-important biometric registration by SSNIT that started in May 2005. She consequently urged that workers (both public and private) who are yet to register should endeavour to do so as soon as practicable.

SSNIT for the last quarter of this year, she indicated, is vigorously embarking on a mass registration exercise to re-enrol all existing members onto the biometric system and also capture new members of the Trust.

“By the end of December, we hope to register about 14,000 public sector workers in some designated areas in the Brong Ahafo Region. So far, we have registered almost 3,000 people since October this year,” she said.

Some of the areas the exercise will cover include Sunyani Municipality and Sunyani West district; Dormaa Central Municipality, East and West districts; Berekum Municipality; Jaman South district; Tano North and South districts, she mentioned.

According to her, SSNIT is collaborating with the various Municipal and District Assemblies to facilitate easy organisation and coordination of workers within their jurisdiction, and therefore entreated all public institutions to contact the Assemblies to aid a smooth process. She added: “Credible and comprehensive bio-data is very important to help cleanse the bloated public payroll, hence the need for all to partake in it”.

Mrs. Ampofo also cautioned employers who have reluctantly failed to pay their workers’ contributions to the Trust, saying: “SSNIT has drawn negotiable and flexible payment terms for such people, and they must take advantage of it to pay the contributions or we will be compelled to take legal action against them”.