Labour expert, Austin Gamey, has reacted to the advocate for the extension of the compulsory retirement age by stating that it will deprive many youths in Ghana of employment.
The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, during the vetting session of the Minister-Designate of employment, Ignatius Baffour Awuah announced his intention to sponsor a private member’s bill to amend the constitution for the extension of the compulsory retirement age for public servants and judicial officers from 60 to 65 years.
In reaction to this however, Austin Gamey mentioned on the Happy Morning Show with Samuel Eshun: “Simply put, I am not a fan of that. It doesn’t really help our situation. We have got a very enthusiastic youth who are rapidly coming out from the various educational institutions. We haven’t gotten jobs for them so why do we have to unload their burden further again. I don’t think it is a very popular thing to do today. If you have worked for between twenty-five and thirty five years (25-35) years, you better get out and let someone else come and work”.
Austin believes that if the older generation have garnered enough experience, the best thing to do is to “create something out of nothing”.
“If what we are claiming is that one has gained some tremendous experience, then such persons must go and create something out of nothing and be consultants or advisers. But to hang around and then the young people will complete school without jobs; the youth should go into the job and learn”, he added.
The labour expert revealed that as part of the people who wrote the labour law and the pension act scheme, they thought it wise to set the retirement age at sixty. “It is improper for us the elderly people to prevent the young ones from getting jobs. It is wrong. You can’t benchmark Ghana’s situation with some other countries like Denmark and the rest of them”, he stated.
The remark on extension of retirement age was made by Hon. Ayariga when the Minister-designate for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour Awuah, appeared before Parliament’s Appointments Committee on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
Mr. Ayariga asked the Minister-designate whether he will support an amendment to the constitution to extend the retirement age.
In response, Baffour Awuah said he supports the proposal but added that the concerns of young people looking for jobs must be considered.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
