According to the Officials, the objective is to register as many as possible, members of SSNIT, including pensioners who were yet to be captured under the on-going exercise.

Ms. Laurette Korkor Otchere, Deputy Director-General, Operations and Benefits, SSNIT, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Mamponteng in the Kwabre-East District of the Ashanti Region, said a lot of pensioners had still not registered biometrically.

"As of today, we have thousands of pensioners who are yet to register," she stated, and disclosed that after the first phase of a similar exercise for members aged 72 and above, last year, about eight thousand ghost names were de-activated from the payroll.

A little over 2, 000 of the affected who were still alive, however, had their benefits restored when they later came to register biometrically with a proof of their existence.

Ms. Otchere pointed out that for pensioners under age 72 who were yet to register, "it is necessary that they contacted the nearest SSNIT facility in order to be assisted to undergo the processes successfully."

"Beginning this November, we will start the second phase of deleting from the payroll all ghost names," she told the GNA.

She appealed to those who for one reason or the other could not be physically present for the biometric registration to endeavour to notify the officials for home assistance. 

"Managers of the Trust, has so far, saved a whopping figure in excess of 56 million Ghana cedis through the de-activation of ghost names," she stressed.

Ms. Otchere hinted that over 250 million Ghana Cedis was paid monthly to pensioners as benefits.

The SSNIT biometric registration exercise at Mamponteng and other areas, including Obuasi, Konongo, Suame, Asafo, Boamang and Offinso, had so far, seen high patronage with several pensioners coming on board.