NPP will increase retiring age of soldiers – Dominic Nitiwul

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government will review the defence strategy of the nation by adding five years to the retiring age of servicemen and women in the Ghana Armed Forces.

Instead of the compulsory retirement from the service after 25 years, the NPP will raise it to 30 years, Deputy Minority Leader Dominic Nitiwul announced in a press briefing in Accra on Sunday October 30.

“…We are also committed to the men and women of the Ghana Armed Forces… In this respect, when the new government comes into office led by Nana Addo-Dankwa Akufo-Addo, we will review immediately the defence strategy of this nation. We believe that Ghana’s army will not be focused more on combat any longer.

There will be other things they will be more focused on carrying: cybercrime, helping the people, engaging in things that will support the nation as well as defending the territorial integrity of this nation, protecting our waters, not just the normal combat they do,” he stated.

“So we will review immediately the defence strategy and if that is the case, the convention of allowing our men to retire after serving 25 years, we will be reviewing it to look at the possibility of adding five more years and that means that unless you want to retire voluntarily, you have the opportunity to retire after 30 years in the force,” the Bimbilla legislator said.

According to him, “It is just right and equitable that if a civil servant is allowed to retire at 60 years you don’t ask somebody in the army to retire at 45 years if he enters at 20 years and then he goes home and has nothing to do.”

Mr Nitiwul allayed fears of violence before, during, and after the December polls. He noted that the NPP would play their part in keeping the peace of the nation.

“The NPP is committed to the security of this nation and [I] want to assure the people of Ghana that when it comes to anything that has to do with peace, the NPP will do anything and everything possible to ensure that this election is very peaceful, this election is managed professionally, and this election is devoid of violence from anybody on our side we can control,” he promised