We celebrate our senior citizens

Last Saturday was observed as Senior Citizens Day, coinciding with Ghana’s Republic Day, on which occasion President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo urged all senior citizens of the country to speak out boldly and criticise his government.

Making reference to his inaugural speech in which he called on the people of Ghana to be “citizens and not spectators”, the President said he had one more request to make of senior citizens: they must offer him constructive criticism that would help the government deal with the many social vices that posed a challenge to the body politic.

He also assured senior citizens that the government was working to improve the administration of pensions in the country.

He added that measures were being put in place to address the needs of workers in both the formal and the informal sectors.
For the benefit of some of our youth who may want to know the significance of Republic Day, on March 6, 1957, Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country to secure political independence from Britain.

In spite of that historic attainment, the British monarch still remained the ceremonial Head of State of Ghana for another three years.

It was on July 1, 1960 that Ghana's colonial umbilical cord was completely cut off from the United Kingdom. On that day, the UK Queen ceased to be our Head of State because on that day Ghana became a Republic, meaning that the country became fully in charge of its own destiny.

As Ghana celebrated its 57th Republic Day, the occasion was also used to celebrate senior citizens who have, indeed, contributed to the building of a strong Republic in the various aspects of national development.

In fact, senior citizens can be characterised as the rock on which sustainable development have been constructed for the benefit of present and future generations of the country.

It is in this respect that the Daily Graphic shares in the views of many who say that a nation that does not have viable youth cannot have noble senior citizens.

In other words, if the youth of today are not well educated to become productive employees, both in the public and the private sectors of the economy, then the nation is doomed forever.

If the youth cannot contribute to the development of the nation, they cannot grow to become pensionable senior citizens in the future.

Indeed, Ghana abounds in retiree senior citizens, some of whom are medical officers, lawyers, engineers, scientists, communicators/journalists, soldiers, policemen, farmers, civil servants and religious and traditional leaders with wisdom.

As we remind ourselves of the significance of the Senior Citizens Day, we must find ways of formalising the process of tapping into their experiences as long as their physical strength will permit.

This is to ensure that they are not abandoned to their fate because one day we too will retire and will require the next generation to make us relevant.

But, above all, the Daily Graphic calls on the government to put in mechanisms to allow our senior citizens to enjoy freebies from the state, so that they can rest in dignity while on retirement.