A cross-section of senior citizens in the Upper West Region has appealed to the government to decentralise the “Senior Citizens Day” celebrations to the district centres to help reduce the burden of having to travel on bad roads and long distances to the regional capitals to observe the Day.
They also suggested that senior citizens should be allowed to come along with their wives and husbands to make the Day more memorable.
The senior citizens made the appeal when they observed the Day in Wa last Wednesday, and urged the government to improve their pensions to enable them to live decent lives and continue to contribute their quota to the national economy.
“If the government does not wish that we die now then something beneficial must be done about our pension”, they said, adding “Many of us who are surviving today have turned to begging to make ends meet”.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. Mahmud Khalid, who addressed the senior citizens, appealed to them to form “think tank” clubs in the districts and provide valuable suggestions to guide government to come out with policies and programmes to meet the development needs of the people.
He urged them to inculcate in the youth the spirit of hard work and sacrifice as well as patriotism to help push the development agenda of the nation forward.
“As I address you today, I look back with nostalgia at many of our past glories as a nation – a time when respect was a cardinal principle for the Ghanaian and nationalism was a must”, Mr. Khalid said.
“Similarly, there was a time when citizens could stand up to wrongdoing and shun influences such as bribery and corruption – above all when truth was the accepted norm”, he added.
Mr. Khalid said it was sad that Ghanaians were gradually losing out in those values and called on senior citizens to play their roles in the communities to restore those values.
The Minister used the occasion to warn middlemen who are disrupting the smooth distribution of government’s subsidized fertilizer to farmers in the region to desist from such acts.
He said some people were taking undue advantage by smuggling the commodity to neighbouring Burkina Faso to the detriment of farmers who needed it for their crops.
Mr. Khalid warned that henceforth all coupons that had been issued to people who had not yet collected their consignments should be considered invalid.
He gave the assurance that new coupons would be issued to replace the old ones and urged agricultural extension officers to monitor the distribution of fertilizers and ensure that only real farmers benefited.
They also suggested that senior citizens should be allowed to come along with their wives and husbands to make the Day more memorable.
The senior citizens made the appeal when they observed the Day in Wa last Wednesday, and urged the government to improve their pensions to enable them to live decent lives and continue to contribute their quota to the national economy.
“If the government does not wish that we die now then something beneficial must be done about our pension”, they said, adding “Many of us who are surviving today have turned to begging to make ends meet”.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr. Mahmud Khalid, who addressed the senior citizens, appealed to them to form “think tank” clubs in the districts and provide valuable suggestions to guide government to come out with policies and programmes to meet the development needs of the people.
He urged them to inculcate in the youth the spirit of hard work and sacrifice as well as patriotism to help push the development agenda of the nation forward.
“As I address you today, I look back with nostalgia at many of our past glories as a nation – a time when respect was a cardinal principle for the Ghanaian and nationalism was a must”, Mr. Khalid said.
“Similarly, there was a time when citizens could stand up to wrongdoing and shun influences such as bribery and corruption – above all when truth was the accepted norm”, he added.
Mr. Khalid said it was sad that Ghanaians were gradually losing out in those values and called on senior citizens to play their roles in the communities to restore those values.
The Minister used the occasion to warn middlemen who are disrupting the smooth distribution of government’s subsidized fertilizer to farmers in the region to desist from such acts.
He said some people were taking undue advantage by smuggling the commodity to neighbouring Burkina Faso to the detriment of farmers who needed it for their crops.
Mr. Khalid warned that henceforth all coupons that had been issued to people who had not yet collected their consignments should be considered invalid.
He gave the assurance that new coupons would be issued to replace the old ones and urged agricultural extension officers to monitor the distribution of fertilizers and ensure that only real farmers benefited.
