GHANA: Positive Sides of Extended Family System

ACCRA, Ghana (Graphic Ghana), September 27, 2006: As the world marks the UN Day of Older Persons, it is important that issues affecting the aged are discussed soberly to see how best their plight could be eased, comments an editorial on the 'Plight of the Aged' published today in the Graphic Ghana. It is a fact that the plight of older persons has not engaged the attention of many people enough the way it should and we think that the time has come for a radical departure from that posture. Old age is one station in life where, unless one dies through an accident or ailment, everybody is bound to reach. Consequently, issues about the aged should be the concern of all. Perhaps the apparent neglect of the aged in the official scheme of things stems from the extended family system through which family members are expected to care for other members of the family, especially the aged and the vulnerable. No matter how one sees the extended family system, there are positive sides to the traditional practice of looking after one’s kith and kin. However, modernity and economic pressures have combined to undermine that noble practice. Even the best-intentioned family members may be so constrained financially that they will be unable to carry out their good intentions. Nevertheless, the framers of the 1992 Constitution might have foreseen the economic and social trend and so they decided to insert a provision in the Constitution which seeks to protect vulnerable groups, including the aged, in the development process. Even though there is no deadline by which government is expected to implement this provision, unlike the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) policy, it is important that it is reminded to take a critical look at the issue of safeguarding the interest of the aged. It is against this background that we share in the call by the President of HelpAge Ghana, Professor Araba Apt, that the government should come up with a clear-cut policy on the aged. Various contributions made by older people while they were in their prime should be recognised and appreciated so that they could be helped “to maintain a decent standard of living”. Many of them worked relentlessly to keep the public and civil service machinery running. It is through their contributions that we have come this far as a nation. The hardworking farmers, through their subsistence farming, have fed millions and keep the economy going, since cocoa farmers are the highest taxed group of people. We are aware that in the report of the Presidential Commission on Pension presented to the President, requests were made to give free or substantially subsidised transportation and medical care to workers in the public sector who go on retirement, as well as reduced tickets to public and social events for the retired and the aged. Certainly the suggestions are worth considering so that the aged will feel that they have not toiled in vain and that society still thinks about them. Let’s consider the plight of the aged and ease their burden for them, comments the editorial. Copyright 2000/2001 Graphic Communications Group Limited