The Executive Director for the Institute of Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), Bismark Peter Kwofie, has called for the review of the Intestate Succession Law 1985 (PNDCL 111) to remove any ambiguities and complexities.
According to him, when a person dies, the process of inheriting the wealth of the deceased is so cumbersome that sometimes the inheritors also pass on, leaving the supposed inheritance in the perpetual custody of the central bank or other financial institutions that the deceased saved or invested in.
He disclosed this to a section of the media during a “High-Level Policy Dialogue on Reducing Family Poverty and Improving Human Dignity” on Monday, November 27, 2023, in Accra.
He outlined certain “barriers” to the access of funds by supposed beneficiaries, whose information is not disclosed to policyholders while they are alive.
Citing an example of the SSNIT policy, he revealed that although persons such as fiancé(es) may be listed as beneficiaries, accessing funds by the beneficiary(ies) on the death of the policyholder might be impossible because SSNIT may consider the beneficiary(ies) as invalid.
He stressed that the attempts by the family of the deceased to access the funds may be complicated, which most times leads to the funds remaining in the custody of financial institutions.
This, he argued, may result in societal problems, including armed robbery, teenage pregnancy, and drug abuse arising from the impoverishment of the beneficiary(ies).
“There is a law that exists called the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions Act 2016 (Act 930) that says that if the accounts are dormant for 5 years, banks should take over the account, meaning that the Bank of Ghana would take over the account until the beneficiary files. Until then, the money is kept with the banks,” he stated.
“[The] insurance [industry] does not have that kind of act; [the] pension [industry] does not have that kind of act. So they do not transfer the monies to the regulators, meaning that they can keep the funds, but banks would have to transfer them to their regulators for keeping,” he added.
He furthered that it was about time banks and insurance companies used the Ghana Cards and the new digital house address system to reach out to families of deceased account holders and make funds in their custody available to them.
Mr. Kwofie additionally encouraged all Ghanaians to ensure that they inform people they have used in their wills as beneficiaries or successors to prevent such frustrations upon their passing.
