We can’t leave country for 30, 40-year-olds – Alabi

Flag bearer-hopeful of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor Joshua Alabi, has said that Ghana has not reached the level where individuals in their 30s and 40s can effectively lead as president.

According to Professor Alabi, the experiences and guidance of older people are indispensable, hence, in the current state of affairs in Africa, having presidents of older age is better.

“I think that we still have not reached the level where we can leave the country to [30- and 40-year-olds] … We need to groom them, we need to…,” he said in response to a question posed by host Francis Abban on Starr FM about whether it was time for young Africans to be presidents.

Prof Alabi, who is 60 years old, said he does not think that he is too old to govern the country and indicated that the retirement age needs to be revised upwards.

The former Greater Accra Regional Minister argued that some individuals have a lot to serve the country with, even at age 60, and that having them retire makes the country lose such rich human resource.

“In this country, we believe that 60 years is quite enough to go on retirement but you go to other countries [and] it has moved even to 70, so, we are under-utilising the resources that we have,” he stated.

He said such people served as coaches and mentors for the young generation.