Executive Director of the policy think tank Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), Peter Bismark Kwofie, has argued that although administrative barriers are embraced as a means to weed out fraud and prevent mistakes, they should also not prevent low-income and poor but eligible people from accessing benefits in the name of service delivery.
He indicated that we cannot also use administrative barriers as a measure of efficiency in service delivery.
He made the remarks in his welcome address at the Next of Kin Dialogue.organised at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel, Accra, on Monday, November 27, 2023.
Fighting poverty, he said, is now an endless one, and from one government’s programmes to another, from private initiatives to another, and from think tank solutions to another, including international development partners, we have codified an uncountable set of norms and solutions to address vulnerability and improve human dignity and rights.
“As we however put in place different government anti-poverty programs at one-point, other challenges surface to retrogress the entire efforts. What we must admit is that Poverty is a product of an action and multi-dimensional poverty is equally the end product of a cause,” he said.
He stated that “one of such biggest causes, is the red tape and Administrative barriers inherently part of our laws, which are often not discussed as primary channels, pushing many more Ghanaians into poverty. I must admit that
I am alarmed at how poverty is smiling at us and the urgent warnings of more people becoming poorer more than ever before because of these red tapes and administrative barriers.
Red tape are the rules and conscious procedures of an administrative system that affect people who are employed or charged to carry them out, and Administrative bottlenecks often results from the rules and related procedures of specific actions to be taken that affect end users,” he said.
Mr. Kwofie expressed worry that several Ghanaians are dying intestate, in road accidents, in rivers, burnt in fire (infernos), and others in some rare circumstances.
According to him, “In the past 10 years, Ghana records that 72 persons out of every 100,000 population have suffered bodied injuries and 8 out of the same population died through Road Traffic Accidents. Statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) depicts the mortality rate of Road traffic accident in the first half of 2023 alone, stood at 1,086 and 1,300 deaths in the same period of 2022 .
People who died in road accidents, infernos, floods are sometimes unidentified and may leave behind funds with the banks, insurance, and pension firms. They could be the breadwinners of their families. In 2022, the Ghana Police service held a mass burial of 300 unidentified bodies and the 37 military hospital conducted a mass burial of 48 unidentified and unclaimed corpse . In many cases, when funds of the deceased including those dying intestate and in accidents or fire and missing persons, are kept by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Insurance and Pension firms, it worsens the fight on poverty and create dependency,” he revealed.
He therefore underscored the need for banks insurance companies, and SSNIT restructuring their account opening forms, policy subscription forms, and pension documents to avoid identity challenges.
“We also expect the Bank of Ghana to intensify proper supervision and ensure banks comply with the dormant account sections in the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Institution Act, 2016 (Act 930). We also look forward to seeing the Bank of Ghana, as a matter of policy, finding ways to identify families of the deceased bank accountholders to receive their funds kept for the past 10 years. The Insurance companies and SSNIT should also simplify the processes and equally identify beneficiaries, next of kin and families to access the funds kept with them in the past 10 years while the Births and Deaths Registry is retooled and relocated to a more spacious and conducive edifice to work and deliver within time.”
The overall objective of the dialogue was to secure well-defined legal structures with little to no barriers for the next of kin to access the funds of the deceased breadwinner to reduce poverty and dependency.
The speakers were Francis Xavier Sosu, Esq., MP Madina Constituency; Frank Papa Kwabena Kumi, President, Pali Centre for Transformative Leadership; Bismark Kwofie, Executive Director, ILAPI; and Ebenezer Isaac Teye Nubour, Senior Partner, Voxtua Legal Services.
Read his full speech below
Welcome Address by
Peter Bismark Kwofie, Executive Director, Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI)
27TH November 2023
I am happy and grateful that you all honored the invitation to join us to think about the vulnerable in society, and to administratively and legally empower the poor. I reflect with deep satisfaction the beautiful times, warm receptions and engagements my outfit had with the Bank of Ghana, Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), Births and Deaths Registry (BDR), National Insurance Commission (NIC), Hon. Francis-Xavier Sosu, Member of Parliament for the Madina Constituency, Voxtua Legal Services, delegated Staff of the Office of the Attorney General, and the Ministry of Health toward this course. I acknowledge your eagerness to meet and give us more insights and what we could do with the research report we have conducted to reduce the burden on families. I also appreciate Access Bank Ghana PLC for your innovation on account opening forms as part of ensuring transparency. And I thank the Academia for your awesome insights.
Fighting poverty is now an endless one. And from one government’s programs to another, from private initiatives to another and from think tank solutions to another including international development partners, we have codified uncountable set of norms and solutions to address vulnerability to improve human dignity and rights. As we however put in place different government anti-poverty programs at one-point, other challenges surface to retrogress the entire efforts. What we must admit is that Poverty is a product of an action and multi-dimensional poverty is equally the end product of a cause.
One of such biggest causes, is the red tape and Administrative barriers inherently part of our laws, which are often not discussed as primary channels, pushing many more Ghanaians into poverty. I must admit that I am alarmed at how poverty is smiling at us and the urgent warnings of more people becoming poorer more than ever before because of these red tapes and administrative barriers.
Red tape are the rules and conscious procedures of an administrative system that affect people who are employed or charged to carry them out, and Administrative bottlenecks often results from the rules and related procedures of specific actions to be taken that affect end users.
Many Ghanaians are dying intestate, in road accidents, in rivers, burnt in fire (infernos), and others in some rare circumstances. In the past 10 years, Ghana records that 72 persons out of every 100,000 population have suffered bodied injuries and 8 out of the same population died through Road Traffic Accidents. Statistics from the National Road Safety Authority (NRSA) depicts the mortality rate of Road traffic accident in the first half of 2023 alone, stood at 1,086 and 1,300 deaths in the same period of 2022 . People who died in road accidents, infernos, floods are sometimes unidentified and may leave behind funds with the banks, insurance, and pension firms. They could be the breadwinners of their families. In 2022, the Ghana Police service held a mass burial of 300 unidentified bodies and the 37 military hospital conducted a mass burial of 48 unidentified and unclaimed corpse . In many cases, when funds of the deceased including those dying intestate and in accidents or fire and missing persons, are kept by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Insurance and Pension firms, it worsens the fight on poverty and create dependency.
The imperatives of private property are to prevent aggressions and adjudicate disputes, prioritizing the legal rights of citizens. The government since 1970 has capriciously imposed its will on property ownership and transfer of inheritance through burdensome regulations and outrightly taking over funds through the Bank of Ghana in the case of financial institutions, while other entities keep the funds forever.
In the financial sector, it is incumbent on the banks, insurance companies and SSNIT to find out whether their accountholders, clients or customers are deceased or missing in the case that the account becomes dormant. This is why all insurance policyholders, bank account holders, pension schemes have their Next of Kin, serving as the point of contact. The Bank of Ghana’s Policy through the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institution Act 930 (2016) demands that Banks must contact the next of kin of the accountholder to find out the whereabout of the accountholder when the account is dormant for 3 years.
After 5 years when the account is still dormant, the Funds that could liberate families, children and spouses out of poverty are transferred to the government’s chest for keep. In the case of the insurance companies and SSNIT, they are not required of such exercises to transfer the funds to the Nationals Insurance Commission (NIC) or National Pension and Regulatory Authority. This means, they keep the funds to themselves if no one is able to go through the legal huddles for the claims.
The cost, and web of information required to unlock the funds of the deceased could take months and years. The acquisition of documents to secure other documents to access the funds come with challenges including identity crises. In most cases the beneficiaries, nominees, or next of kin could die in the process of accessing the funds. This sometimes leads to inheritance fraud.
The economy becomes weaker and weaker when those who are eligible to access the funds or do business are prevented from doing so because of red tapes and administrative barriers.
Although administrative barriers are embraced as means to weeding out fraud and preventing mistakes, it should also not prevent the low-income and poor but eligible people from accessing benefits in the name of service delivery. We cannot also use administrative barriers as a measure of efficiency in service delivery.
It is therefore the time to use this dialogue to start a national conversation on red tapes and administrative bottlenecks and how both push people into poverty and inequality.
At the end of this dialogue, we at ILAPI look forward to seeing the banks, insurance companies, and SSNIT restructuring their account opening forms, policy subscription forms, and pension documents to avoid identity challenges. We also expect the Bank of Ghana to intensify proper supervision and ensure banks comply with the dormant account sections in the Banks and Specialized Deposit-Institution Act, 2016 (Act 930). We also look forward to seeing the Bank of Ghana, as a matter of policy, finding ways to identify families of the deceased bank accountholders to receive their funds kept for the past 10 years. The Insurance companies and SSNIT should also simplify the processes and equally identify beneficiaries, next of kin and families to access the funds kept with them in the past 10 years while the Births and Deaths Registry is retooled and relocated to a more spacious and conducive edifice to work and deliver within time.
The redder tapes and administrative barriers we have, the more we push people into poverty. I also call on all Ghanaians to respectively start amending their bank accounts, insurance and pension details, especially on the information of beneficiaries, nominees and next of kin to prevent the loss of funds when one is no more.
As barrier removers and free enterprise think tank, we know it is possible to reform our laws and rules to have a prosperous nation.
Thank you and I welcome you all to this important dialogue to find solutions with actions that will reform and remove administrative burdens to help beneficiaries, nominees, next of kin and families to access the funds of deceased loved ones thereby improving human dignity and preventing family poverty. It could happen to me and it could happen to you.
Remember, we must ensure that the world which we will be passing on to the next generation should be the one that’s friendly, liberal, protective of private property right and full of opportunities for a prosperous society.
Thank You
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By: Rashid Obodai Provencal/Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
