Mustapha Ussif, the Minister of Youth and Sports has said urged the Ghana Football Association to ensure that clubs in the Ghana Premier League fulfil their obligation to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) with regards to the payment of contributions of players.
In a speech delivered at the 46th edition of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana awards (SWAG Awards), Mustapha Ussif said that all professional footballers in the country must be enrolled on the SSNIT scheme.
“I also encourage the Ghana Football Association to aggressively enforce footballers’ SSNIT contributions by our local clubs.
“Professional footballers are just like any other Ghanaian worker, and we must ensure that their employers, the clubs, pay their SSNIT payments. The procedure should be simplified even more now that SSNIT has begun the process of converting all national identity numbers into SSNIT identification numbers,” he said.
Mustapha Ussif disclosed that government has taken an initiative which it believes will help address the age-long problem of ex-sportsmen slumping into poverty after retirement.
He explained that government has resolved to committing percentages of bonuses and earnings of national team athletes to an insurance which will be ripe and become accessible when they retired.
The Sports Minister is confident that the policy being implemented by his outfit will solve the situation of national heroes becoming paupers after retirement.
“As a Minister for Youth and Sports, I have taken efforts to guarantee that our heroes’ honor and dignity are preserved long after they have retired. As a government, we don’t want to see the stars we’re honouring today in absolute agony afterwards, as we’ve seen with some of our legends.
As an immediate response to the troubling tendency of some of our sporting icons becoming paupers in retirement, I have implemented a pension program for all our athletes, particularly national team athletes. The suggestion is for all our national team players and athletes is for the Ministry to withhold part of their earnings while on national duty, which would be placed in a special retirement fund in their names.
“This was accomplished through the development of a comprehensive policy in collaboration with the athletes and other key stakeholders. Such pension programs begin modestly with small donations, but with time and dedication, they grow to be large and a solid source of decent income for retired athletes,”he said.
Government to help clubs with impact of Covid-19
Mustapha Ussif said that government is not oblivious of the devastating impact of Covid-19 on sports.
He said that government has provided support for the sector and will explore other means of ensuring that sporting activities are back on track.
“Considering the impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on many aspects of our life, I feel the topic for this year’s awards, “Ghana sports in the post-COVID age, a business approach,” was well thought out.
“COVID-19 Pandemic has had a severe impact on sports across the globe and Ghana sports isn’t an exception. All sporting disciplines have had their fair share of the negative impact of the pandemic. The government is determined to provide the necessary assistance to enable our sports industry to get back on track.”
On the event, Olympic medalist Samuel Takyi was declared SWAG Sports Personality of the Year.