Senior citizens urged to share expertise with nation's leaders

Cape Coast, July 01, GNA, the Central Regional Minister Nana Ato Arthur, on Tuesday urged senior citizens in the country to endeavour to share their rich experiences and expertise with leaders of the country to help enhance the nation's democracy.

He said they should be able to point out the mistakes of leaders, particularly political leaders and also make constructive criticisms rather than leaving such leaders to their fate.

Nana Arthur said this at a luncheon held for senior citizen in the Central Region as part of activities marking this year's Republic Day celebration in Cape Coast.

In all, 150 senior citizens drawn from all the districts in the Region attended the event and were each presented with a token gift of soap, T-shirts and caps and were also treated to music provided by the Central Regional Fire Angels and Cape Coast Youth Choir. Ten other senior citizens who were of ages between 80 and 95 were given special awards of a half piece of cloth each in addition to the soap and T-shirts.

Nana Arthur appreciated the struggles and contributions the various senior citizens made towards the advancement of the nation's development and urged them to continue to make their talents and skills available for the youth to learn from.

He pointed out that a country which does not honour its heroes is not worth dying for and commended the President for nominating more than six people from the Central Region for the national awards. The Regional Minister said the Central Regional Coordinating Council recognizes the importance of senior citizens in the socio-economic development of the Region and stressed that before the end of the year, all senior citizens in the region would be honoured by the RCC. Nana Arthur said the region should count itself lucky, because it had benefited a lot from the current government, mentioning the creation of more districts and making others municipalities, building of new model schools, the provision of potable water and tarring of district roads, stressing that all these would help enhance the development of the Region.

He however, advised the public not to let politics divide them but that they should close their ranks, live in peace and remain united to advance the development of the Region.

Mr C.K Techie-Menson a retired agriculturalist, during optional speeches, called on Ghanaian workers to be dedicated to their work so as to move the nation's development to a greater height and called on the youth to remain resolute and disciplined in whatever they do. Nana Kwamina Ansah IV Eguafo Omanhene, who presided, called on the current administrators to take a clue from senior citizens to "repair the damage in the political environment in the country." He said political leaders have a big task to perform and they should endeavour to build on what the senior citizens had been able to achieve.