Ageing In Dignity

Ageing In Dignity - Let Us Make The National Ageing Policy And Action Plan Work!!!

A major characteristic of the world’s demography is the increasing proportion of older persons to the total population. In Ghana, population ageing has been significant since the mid 80’s. In the 2000 Population and Housing Census Report, 5.3 percent of the total population were 65 years old and above, which was an increase from 4 percent in 1984. The proportion of the aged population has tripled from 1970 to 2010 and the trend continues to grow in all districts in the country.

Many international organisations call for strategic response to this growing section of global population. In April 2002, the Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid, Spain came out with a cardinal document; The Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, which identifies a range of actions for a sustainable plan to embrace the needs and potentials of an ageing world.

On the Africa continent, we are experiencing this phenomenon in the context of weakening traditional values and mechanisms that give protection to the elderly; economic hardship; spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic; and increasing chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases

In Ghana, many elderly people in their state of dependency suffer silently from our version of “Euthanasia” characterised by abusing old people to death – physically, psychologically and emotionally; promoted by all manners of customs and beliefs. People easily vent their anger and frustrations on elderly women for all their calamities.

Once a while, a story hits the media concerning the abuse of an elderly person. The recent one, probably etched on the minds of many Ghanaians is the 72 years old woman, allegedly accused of witchcraft and burnt to death. But the sad truth is that majority of similar stories never get space in the press. Countless numbers of elderly people agonize in their world of pain and frustration.

We have witch camps mostly for elderly women at Yendi, Gambaga , Gushegu, and Bimbilla; banished from their communities , they live under very poor and dehumanising conditions. Even before they are ostracized from their villages, they are humiliated, harassed and beaten. This practice goes on despite the fact that it is against the victim’s fundamental human rights as stipulated in our constitution. Without pretending to be exhaustive of all the cause factors, we can usefully distinguish economic factor, particularly the cost of caring for these elderly women by their families as the root cause for this practice.

So far as a nation, we have the annual ritual of honouring senior citizens as part of the events marking our Republic day celebrations. The National Health Insurance Scheme offers free health care to those 70 years and above upon registration with a fee of 4 Ghana Cedis. The Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty Cash Transfer programme in some districts has been responsive to the needs of some vulnerable old people.

However, the support and commitment to ensure Ghana has a coherent and comprehensive policy and action plan for the aged has rather been very slow - It started in 1997 when a committee was commissioned by then Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare to draft the Policy. In November, 2010,Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, told the public that the Policy and Action Plan has now been approved by Cabinet and it is expected to be captured in the 2011 fiscal year.

The well articulated policy will seek to stimulate progress in addressing key concerns of the aged. It is expected to create a National Co-ordinating Institution on Ageing; a comprehensive health care programme including professional age carers; promote community care facilities; and promote the employment of older persons.

I recognise the policy as an opportunity to tackle the concerns of the aged and reassert the overriding importance of laws that safeguard the dignity of older persons. However, my anxiety is that apathy towards issues of the aged will creep into the implementation of the Action Plan and programmes such that it will not yield the expected results.

Among other things, my fear is evident in the fact that for over 13 years we have been working to come out with this policy at a snail’s pace. I will like to quote from the draft policy released in July, 2010 by the Ministry of Social Welfare and Employment to buttress my argument: ” The draft national policy on ageing prepared in 2002 had not been implemented for several reasons including absence of implementation action plan and the apparent lack of ownership by older persons who are the primary stakeholders. Several factors affecting older persons have since changed and the approach for developing ageing policies to achieve sustainability of implementation has also changed”.

Indeed this may be an excuse but not worthy in comparison to the worsening plight of older persons and the long duration of the policy in the “pipe line”. I doubt this is a matter of efficiency or effectiveness of the policy as we are told. It shows a lack of urgency and dedication to addressing the blatant sufferings of our older folks. If we as a country are serious with the issues of the aged, we will hasten with diligence not only for the passage of the Policy but the effective implementation of the action plan.

Also, I am just wondering what we have done with the existing legislations to address the concerns of elderly persons particularly relating to enforcing laws on property, inheritances rights , and inhuman customary practices, particularly against elderly women. Despite these laws, the conditions of many elderly people in Ghana still remain distinctly precarious.

The current state of affairs creates the impression that older persons are a cost to factor in our social budget and a secondary matter. They are considered a kind of burden, whereas indeed they still contribute significantly in diverse ways such as care givers, custodians of our traditions, agriculture and food storage, harvesting, processing and storage of food. Besides, our actions tend to hold the ideology that the human person is worth only because of their usefulness rather than their intrinsic value as a person - which is in contrast with the fundamental values of our country.

Although the policy will renew our national commitment to enhance the welfare of older people; I will like to reiterate that we just don’t need a policy document and action plan, but a great commitment and effective programmes to ensure people age in dignity. There is the temptation to have structures in place but doesn’t make the prevailing situation any better or not well resourced to meet the task.

If we cannot rise to the challenge of ensuring effective mechanisms to uphold the dignity of our senior citizens, an imperative so intimately linked with our own future, then our existence and sense of humanity is doomed.

Yaw Martin Agyemang Badu

Dignity and Entrepreneurship Institute

Email: thedeighana@gmail.com

Facebook name : TheDei Ghana