The
Guardians of Gray Masters Foundation, a not-for-profit institution, is
advocating early passage of Ghana’s National Aged
Bill to protect and promote the rights and wellbeing of older persons.
The
global population of people above the age of 60 will exceed the number of
younger people by 2050, and this growth is expected to be faster in developing
countries.
Yet,
research has shown elderly abuse, neglect, violence, and exploitation is one of
the biggest issues facing senior citizens around the world.
World
Health Organization data suggests that 4 to 6 per cent of elderly suffer from
some form of abuse, a large percentage of which goes unreported.
In
Ghana, the Guardians of Gray Masters Foundation has observed a growing trend of
elder abuse.
“The
aged are physically assaulted, spiritually maligned and emotionally bruised in
various ways” says Abigail Appiah, Executive Director of the Foundation. “These
abuses occur in homes, within communities, in health care institutions, around
religious space and other places in society”.
The
United Nations has designated June 15 as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day to
draw global attention to the problem of physical, emotional, and financial
abuse of the aged.
The
Guardians of Gray Masters wants the battle to end elder abuse to be a concern
to every individual as the young shall grow – both the rich and the poor.
“Fighting
elder abuse is fighting for the comfort of our future; in our old age. The crusade of ensuring the government puts in the right
policies and laws to protect the old aged should be upheld by all,” said
Abigail.
Spiritual Abuse
The
Foundation is concerned some elders are branded as witches and subjected to
physical and verbal attacks; some are beaten to death, others are regarded as
outcast, neglected or sacked from their homes and sent unto the streets or
prayer camps.
Some
religious leaders poison the minds of the youth to believe the elderly in the
house are the source of all their predicaments.
The
Foundation challenges young people need to learn the habit of solving problems,
thinking and bringing out innovative ideas and acting on them to make a good
living and not blame others for their failure.
Financial Abuse
The
aged are also robbed of their hard earned savings by both family caretakers and
non-family service providers.
Elders
who are not capable of accessing their accounts as a result of health-related
conditions or accidents that render them incapacitated are the mercy of
caretakers.
The
unscrupulous ones end up squandering the cash of the elders, rendering them
bankrupt and eventually leaving them to suffer in pain and death.
Unfriendly Infrastructure
The
Foundation also says Ghana’s system of infrastructure development in building
construction is mostly elderly unfriendly.
“There
are storey buildings with three to five or more floors without lifts or escalators.
Most elderly people walk with an aid like the walking stick an as a result of
poor health are unable to access some of these structures,” it observed.
Being
burdened to climb higher floors to access a service is not the best and the
situation is worse for elders who suffer physical disability.
Service Conditions
The
elderly queue with young active people to access services that may be crucial
to their welfare, especially for health and financial services.
With
few exceptions, elders are not as active and strong as the youth and therefore
need to access speedy services by service supervisors.
The theme for the year’s World Elder Abuse
Awareness Day is “Understand and End Financial Abuse of Older People: A Human Rights Issue.”
The
theme will explore effective means of strengthening protections against
financial and material exploitation, including by improving the understanding
of this form of elder abuse and discussing ways of ensuring the participation
of older adults themselves in ending victimization.
By
Kofi Adu Domfeh
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