Speaking on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem morning show, Dr. Sefa Twum observed that the low pensions many retirees currently receive reflect the poor salaries they earned during their active years of service.

“Someone is receiving as high as GH₵140,000 monthly pension, while others get as little as GH₵400. For such people, nothing will change even in 200 years if they were to live that long, because their salaries were too low and they didn’t adequately plan for retirement,” he lamented.

He explained that improving public sector salaries would not only ensure a decent standard of living for workers but also guarantee better pension benefits after retirement.

Dr. Sefa Twum also proposed that Ghana’s retirement age be reviewed to 65 years, arguing that the change would enable workers to contribute more to national development and ease the burden on pension funds.

“If the retirement age is extended by five years, more people will be contributing to the pension scheme while fewer will be withdrawing. That will strengthen the fund and also help workers better prepare for retirement,” he noted.

Citing global trends, he pointed out that most Western countries, including the United Kingdom, have retirement ages above 60, with the UK currently at 67 years.

“In many developed countries, no one retires at 60. By that age, people are more experienced and still capable of working. It is not true that everyone at 60 lacks the strength to contribute,” he stressed.

Dr. Sefa Twum, a strong advocate for labour reforms and sustainable pension systems in Ghana, urged policymakers to prioritise salary adjustments and retirement reforms to promote fairness and long-term economic stability.

Source: Gertrude Otchere

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Speaking during his vetting before the Parliamentary Appointments Committee on Friday, June 20, Justice Ackaah-Boafo described the judicial profession as “mentally exhausting” and stressed the need for justices to retire at a reasonable age to prioritise their health and family life.

“The reality is this: I think—I do not have any statistics—but indications are there that people retire at 70 and within a short time, they join the other side,” he remarked. “The work of a judge is a stressful one. You burn the midnight oil; you sit up and write judgments.”

While acknowledging that some countries have a higher retirement age for judges, he noted that such systems often make provisions to ease the workload for ageing justices.

“Even in other jurisdictions where they have 75 years as the retirement age, when you’re about hitting 70, you can choose to be a ‘supernumerary’, which means you’ve cut down your work. You choose what to do, and they give the heavy work to those who are young,” he explained.

Justice Ackaah-Boafo concluded that maintaining the existing retirement threshold would promote a healthier work-life balance for judges nearing the end of their careers.

“So, I think the 70 is good enough. Let’s stick to it, so that when we retire, we can have time to spend with family,” he said.

Speaking during his vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Monday, June 17, Justice Adjei dismissed calls for constitutional amendments to increase the retirement age for Supreme Court justices.

“In Ghana, the 70 is okay, because people go home [after retirement] and within two years, they die because of the volume of work that we do,” he stated.

Responding to a question on why Ghana should not emulate jurisdictions like the United States where federal judges serve for life, Justice Adjei clarified that the systems are fundamentally different.

He explained that in the U.S., judges can opt for a “senior judge status” from age 65, allowing them to reduce their caseloads significantly while still remaining on the bench.

“They have senior judge status… You may decide to sit either one-third or half of your volume of work. And if you become 80 or 90 [years], the number of cases you sit on is up to you,” he said.

“But just in 2009, the UK increased their retirement age to 75.”

Justice Adjei maintained that Ghana’s judicial workload is too demanding to justify an extension.

He noted that judges often endure heavy schedules that take a physical toll over the years, making timely retirement a matter of wellbeing.

Earlier during the vetting, Supreme Court nominee Justice Senyo Dzamefe also made it clear that he does not support calls to review the retirement age for judges of the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal from 70 to 75.

Justice Dzamefe said he strongly believes the current retirement age of 70 should be maintained.

“I will not agree with sending the retirement ages of Supreme Court or Appeal Court judges to 75. No,” he said. “The retirement age as at now is 70. Superior court judges retire on their salaries.”

He explained that traditionally, age and experience were important factors in judicial work, but technology has changed that reality.

“Formerly, you need to be advanced in age to get the experience and the exposure so that when you give judgment, it is respected. It is a solid judgment because you’re adding personal experience to the legal knowledge you have,” he said.

“But of late, technology has made it such that what you needed 60 or 70 years to know, technology can make it available to you very early,” he explained. “So personally, my opinion is to keep it at 70. That is my opinion, not 75.”

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The policy, outlined in Statutory Instrument 197 of 2024, titled Public Service (Amendment) Regulations, 2024 (No. 3), officially came into effect on December 30, 2024.

Under the new regulation, civil servants who were appointed before the policy’s implementation can choose to retire at 65 or continue working until 70 while still receiving a full pension.

For employees appointed after the effective date, the retirement age has been adjusted directly to 70. The government hopes this measure will allow experienced public servants to continue contributing their skills and expertise to the nation.

Despite the policy’s potential benefits, its rollout has been fraught with challenges, particularly in the education sector. Some teachers, who had anticipated working until 70, were prematurely retired and ordered to vacate school-provided housing.

Headmasters justified these actions by citing the absence of an official directive authorizing the retirement extension.

Moses Mhike, Permanent Secretary for Primary and Secondary Education, acknowledged the confusion caused by delays in communication from the Public Service Commission (PSC). He assured the public that the PSC has now issued the necessary circular and that steps are being taken to rectify the situation.

Justice, Legal, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi explained that the extension was necessitated by Zimbabwe’s increasing life expectancy.

With many citizens now living well into their 80s, the government believes it is practical to adjust the retirement age to retain the expertise of older public servants.

The policy, he noted, is a response to demographic realities and is intended to ensure that valuable skills are not prematurely lost from the public sector.

The early retirement of teachers, coupled with delays in implementing the policy, has sparked criticism and concern among affected civil servants.

However, the government has assured stakeholders that these challenges are being addressed to ensure a smoother execution of the policy moving forward.

GFL believes that the possible review will afford hale and hearty retirees the opportunity to contribute their quota to the workforce.

“We were in a program where somebody was going for retirement, and we realized that the person was strong and fit and could have stayed on for a while.

“So, we realized that why don’t we discuss and put this across for stakeholders and government and see whether some adjustment could be made so that we don’t waste these people who have institutional memories to help the growth and development of wherever they will be working,” Executive Secretary of the Federation, Dr. Abraham Koomson said in an interview with Accra-based Citi FM.

However, he stated a constitutional amendment was significant to facilitate GFL’s proposal.

“We have to engage the government and discuss the possibility. It is constitutional, so it means the constitution should be amended. It will not happen overnight, so we have to engage in discussions.

“Even if we go to the judicial sectors, I think they spend about seventy years or something. So if a judge could be working at the age of seventy, it means that at a certain age if you don’t have any health challenges, the person will be okay to work,” he added.

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