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23.02.2021 Feature Article

What Is The Crime? - A Blind Man From The Bono Region In A Poem On The Misery Of The Ghanaian Pensioner

What Is The Crime?  - A Blind Man From The Bono Region In A Poem On The Misery Of The Ghanaian  Pensioner
23.02.2021 LISTEN

In a passionate poem that sheds light on how unashamedly Ghanaians treat people who through their sweats served their country well and live afterwards in abject poverty as pensioners; a blind man captures the tears of all retirees in Ghana in a terse poem with a lamenting title: "What Is The Crime?".

Questioning why those in authority make a retiring age a curse instead of a blessing the Lord wanted it to be, Mr Ebenezer Nsowah, a visually impaired retired teacher from Badu in the Bono Region, throws a challenge to all stakeholders in the welfare of pensioners in order not to facilitate their demise with this palpable uncaring attitudes towards their wellbeing after many years of service.

Ending his poem, Mr. Nsowah, who is also a social commentator, and not long ago penned a congratulatory letter to President Nana Akuffo Addo on his reelection to the Jubilee House, pleading with the first gentleman to be father to the fatherless as always; said about the aged; "not to be left to live in pieces and tatters after serving God and country for over thirty years".

It's worth reading the lamentations of this blind retiree if we as the acclaimed "Children Of God" responds to the commandment of "Blessed is the man that cares for the needs of the poor".

Read Mr Ebenezer Nsowah's touching poem below.

What is the crime?

1. Oh Ghana! Ghana my motherland

what is the crime committed, so committed to be denied of my lumpsum of money or retirement benefit after working for thirty six years as a teacher.

2. Oh Ghana! Ghana my motherland

Retirement at the age of sixty is a blessing from the Lord, why do you want it to be a curse? My motherland, where are the organizations: Trades Union Congress, Ghana National Association of Teachers and National Association of Graduate Teachers, National Pensions and Regulatory Authority, don't you care about others? Some people are suffering the same fate or pain. I am not alone others are with me so listen.

3. Oh Ghana! Ghana my motherland

I have retired in peace, do not compel me to live in pieces and in tatters, for I have to rest but still have a lot to do for mother Ghana, so do not frustrate others in life. Do not inject them with abject poverty that will hasten them to misery and the grave. Oh Ghana! Ghana my motherland listen to my plead in earnest.

By: Ebenezer Nsowah

Digital Address: BZ 4549-3675 Badu, Bono Region

Conatct: 0208313804 and 0241411882

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