Politics is not a matter of life and death

Koforidua, Sept. 7, GNA - The General Secretary of the National SSNIT Pensioners Association, Mr Edward Ameyibor, has appealed to the elderly to educate young politicians to understand that politics was not a matter of life and death.

He said it was time that politicians were made to realise that that their activities were dividing the country and threatening the peace that the country had enjoyed for some time now. Mr Ameyibor was speaking in Koforidua when the new national executive of the association met members of the association drawn from the Eastern Region on Monday.

He said pensioners were a force to reckon with in any major decisions of the country including elections because they constituted about seven per cent of the electorate.

Mr Ameyibor said some people in government circles were disputing the percentage of pensioners and therefore urged all pensioners to support the national population and housing census for the real population of pensioners in the country to be known.

Mr Ameyibor said currently the registered members of the association were 55,000 and the figure kept increasing by day. He said the elderly had important roles to play in the society and so the society needed to take good care of them and have well defined policy for the elderly to help stop the many discriminations being suffered by the elderly. Mr Ameyibor said the minimum SSNIT pension had been increased from GHC 26 to GHC 40 and said the association had pleaded with SSNIT to increase it further.

The National Women's Organizer of the association, Mrs Janet Esseku, called on members of the association to stop thinking of their death and rather lead better lives to live long. She urged the elderly to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables daily, avoid high protein diets, do some exercises and take in sufficient water.

The Area Manageress of SSNIT, Mrs Mercy Owusu-Ansah, said despite the new SSNIT Pension Act, pensioners would continue to enjoy the annual indexing that leads to the increase in the pension paid to members.