Saving Practice of Madina Market Women in Enroling on Social Insurance

Abstract

Securing the future of citizens through a comprehensive social insurance policy has been of great concern to Social Protection theorists, advocates and governments who seek the ultimate welfare of their citizens. Given the physically worsening progression of the human strength due to the wear and tear as we age and yet imperatively expected to maintain a healthy life; the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension Scheme came in handy to cater for this need and even has stretched to include informal sector workers albeit on voluntary basis. This study examines the saving practices of some fifty (50) market women in the Madina Market with the hope to reveal the inadequacies of their saving efforts in securing their post- retirement life, and also to propose an all-embracing alternative to get both the formal, informal sectors and all persons within the working age range of the economy automatically captured. The study went further to review previous and prevailing social insurance schemes with relevant international experiences that sought to chart that all-encompassing course through a compulsory regime of enrolment. It was found that knowledge about the Informal sector pension scheme was very low. Also, they wished to secure their post-retirement future but could not due to financial constraints and general mistrust for the scheme as it stands presently. It was also revealed that their mode of saving to secure their future was through susu collection, personal savings, banks and microfinance companies. Through it all, the study suggested a general difficulty on the part of informal sector workers in voluntarily enrolling on the Informal Pension Scheme. They should be invariably captured through an all-embracing policy like the kind with the formal sector workers. The study was limited to some Market women in Madina, Ga East Municipal Assembly, Accra and so generalizations about findings have been done with caution. The researcher thus recommends future studies to involve a larger sample.