President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo had announced at the 57th Republic Day anniversary celebration that government had initiated moves to provide pensioners with a better deal.

Nana Apata Kofi made the commendation in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Gomoa-Pomadze in the Central Region. He appealed to government to strive hard to speed up the implementation of the decision to bring relief to pensioners in the country.

The Guantoahene also the Chief of Gomoa-Pomadze said the poor monthly pay of the retired workers had contributed largely to the early demise of many retirees.  He called for intensive conduct of investigations into issues concerning people who served the nation for many years but were poorly treated in terms of the payment of end-of-service benefits.

Nana Apata Kofi had suggested the establishment of a joint body made up of representatives from Parliament, workers unions, employers association, the clergy and the Council of State to discuss and come out with an acceptable end-of-service gratuity which could stand the text of time for various categories of retired workers.

He said within the consideration of the issue the review of the proposed end-of-service packages should be pegged at six years, and that this would go a long way to curb the practice where workers and leaders from state-owned establishments and private companies went for roundtable discussions to negotiate for improved conditions of service every two years.

The Guantoahene said the improved pensions would serve as impetus for present workers to be committed and dedicated to their service delivery to the country to achieve its goals. Nana Apata Kofi appealed to Ghanaian workers to endeavour to resolve their grievances through dialogue instead of embarking on strike actions, which mostly led some workers to the extreme.

He said: “Violent demonstrations and strikes do not promote productivity hence the need for dialoguing all the time no matter how the challenges are.”