HELP Age Ghana, an organisation that seeks the welfare and interest of the aged in the country, says it is concerned with the non-payment of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) for the last 10 months.
It noted that this was causing great pain and suffering to its members, most of whom have sacrificed their lives in the service of the nation.
The Vice President of the association, Mr Edward Amaeyibor, told the Daily Graphic in Accra on Friday after a seminar on the “Plight of Older Persons and Political Party Manifesto for 2012 Election,” that the absence of the LEAP was having serious repercussions on the already sick and poor members.
The seminar was organised as part of the United Nations Day for Older Persons which falls on every October 1.
HelpAge Ghana is a non-governmental, non-religious and non-profit making organisation, established in 1988 to promote the prospects of older persons in the Ghanaian society. It is a full member of HelpAge International (HAI) which is based in London, UK, and is a global network of age care organisations.
Mr Amaeyibor also expressed concern about the refusal of the four main political parties to attend the programme, which was intended to offer the parties the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the old people and incoporate them in their manifestos for the 2012 general elections.
The Democratic Freedom Party (DPP), the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and the United Renaissance Party (URP) attended the seminar they although according to Helpage. The other parties did not attend, were given letters and this was followed with telephone calls to some of their leaders.
Mr Amaeyibor said their refusal to attend was indicative of how they looked down on the aged, and reminded those political parties that they should bear in mind that old people form at least seven per cent of the total population and also serve as leaders of their various families an as such they could have a great deal of influence over the people they head.
He said the political parties must not lose sight of the fact that their leaders, President Mills and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party respectively, were by all standards old people because they were above 60 years.
The DPP was represented by its leader, Mr T. N. Ward-Brew, GCPP by its General Secretary, Rev Harry Mettle, and URP by its Greater Accra Regional Organiser, Mr Francis Sowah.
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