Pension scheme for needy aged women

April 12, 2008
Story: Joe Okyere, Elmina
THE scope of the partnership between the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District and the Municipality of Gouda, Netherlands, has been expanded to include a monthly pension scheme for needy aged women between 70 and 80 in the district.
The first 50 beneficiaries from Berase in the Abrem Traditional Area have received GH¢11 per month as their pension.
The beneficiaries need not contribute under the scheme, which is being implemented on purely humanitarian grounds.
To qualify for the scheme, one must have attained 70 years, besides proving that the one had no breadwinner.
Dubbed “Adopt a Granny Foundation”, the project introduces the needy aged to interested sponsors in the Netherlands for adoption and monthly support.
Speaking at Berase where the first 50 beneficiaries received their pension, the initiator of the scheme and Mayor of the Municipality of Gouda, Mr Wim Cornelis, who led a three-member delegation, said it would be expanded to embrace more aged women.
The Central Regional Minister, Nana Ato Arthur, commended Mr Cornelis for initiating the scheme and advised the recipients to use the money judiciously.
He also commended the District Chief Executive (DCE) for KEEA, Mr George Frank Asmah, for striving hard to sustain and expand the partnership arrangement that began during his (Nana Ato Arthur) term of office as the DCE.
The DCE, Mr George Frank Asmah, said currently the partnership was yielding positive results in areas of sanitation and health with the provision of hospital equipment.
A 1.2-million euro plastic recycling factory is expected to be built at Essaman to tackle the plastic waste menace in the district and provide employment for about 3,000 people.
The Omanhen of the Abrem Traditional Area, Nana Kyiriwia Kordie, thanked the KEEA District Assembly and the Municipality of Gouda for the introduction of the scheme and said it would go a long way to assist aged women in his area.