Workers’ Day: PNC govt will reduce retirement age to 50 – General Secretary

The People’s National Convention (PNC) is promising to increase employees’ salaries should it be voted into power in 2024.

The party has also assured to review the pension structure by reducing the retirement age from 60 to 50 years to give room for more youth to be employed easily.

These promises were contained in a statement issued by the party on Saturday, May 1, 2021, to mark the Workers’ Day celebration, indicating that “a future PNC government shall ensure the salaries of workers are enough to meet their needs.”

“We are concerned about the pension scheme of workers. A PNC government will review the pension scheme and make it attractive, and equally, reduce the pension age from 60 to 50 to make way for a youthful working population.”

Janet Asan Nabla, Secretary of PNC, signed the statement which acknowledged the efforts and commitment of Ghanaian workers during the difficult times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic while lamenting the attendant job losses.

“We are not oblivious of the difficult circumstances in which our workers are operating especially in the face of this pandemic, Covid-19. We acknowledge the loss of job in recent times, mainly due to Covid-19”, portions of the statement read. Below is the full release:

HAPPY WORKERS' DAY

A worker is a creator and a great asset to every nation, to this end, PNC celebrates fellow hard-working countrymen and women whose activities serve as the ladder through which human dignity and creative excellence are expressed. We celebrate every worker on this May Day, from the man in the street, hawking, to the expertise in each of the levels of our economic architecture.

We are not oblivious of the difficult circumstances in which our workers are operating especially in the face of this pandemic, Covid-19. The sacrifices our health workers are making in confronting this deadly virus are remarkable, we applaud them. The salaries workers receive that hardly meet their financial obligations and the conditions in which they work; the absence of requisite tools to aid workers in their operations in both public and private enterprises. Yet, you the workers are pushing the wheels of this nation to grow.

We acknowledge the loss of jobs in recent times, mainly due to Covid-19, and the effort of the government to address the difficulty in getting jobs by our teaming youth. The Nation Builders Corps, Planting and Rearing for Food and Jobs, recruitment of teachers and nurses amongst few others are commendable acts by the government of His Excellency Nana Akufo Addo. We believe more could be done.

A September 2020 report of the World Bank titled 'Youth Employment Programs in Ghana: Options for Effective Policy Making and Implementation' reported that Ghana is faced with 12% youth unemployment and more than 50% underemployment, both higher than overall unemployment rates in Sub-Saharan African countries. The number of graduates produced every year across the tertiary institutions is alarming and that despite major investments by the government and private sector, this challenge will intensify if job opportunities remain limited.

A future PNC government shall ensure the salaries of workers are enough to meet their needs. We shall put in place policies to cut down on the import of goods that could be produced locally to create more jobs for Ghanaians whiles embarking on major value addition on our raw products such as cocoa, cashew, etc to further create employment in the country.

We are concerned about the pension scheme of workers. A PNC government will review the pension scheme and make it attractive, and equally, reduce the pension age from 60 to 50 to make way for a youthful working population. A younger working population makes a great nation.

We say 'Ayekooo' to our gallant workers.

PNC: Service with honesty.

-signed-

Janet Asana Nabla

General Secretary

—citinewsroom