By Hajaratu Kalokoh
Sierra Leone on Thursday launched its first National Aging Policy which seeks to cater for the aged considering how vulnerable they get mostly as a result of their different conditions.
Among other things the policy ensures old people get access to basic services and are accorded the opportunity to fully participate in the daily life of their communities.
Minister of Labor and Social Safety, Adekunle Milton King told Politico the policy was a manifestation of government’s will to adhere to the international convention and recommendations on the elderly.
“We are part of the community of civilization and are doing our own bit in the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goal especially SDG1 which is the Eradication of Poverty and SDG 16 Inclusivity”, King said.
“You cannot say when people are old and feeble they cannot work anymore or you treat them as irrelevant,” he added.
The policy which targets persons aged 60 years and above lays special emphasis on the most vulnerable ones such as those who have no family support, are homeless and are widows or widowers, an official of the Ministry told Politico.
In 2004 the late former President Ahmed Tejan Kabba established the cash transfer scheme, which started operations in 2006 by providing quarterly cash transfers to elderly people with no regular source of income.
Thomas Kamara, Western Area Regional Coordinator of the National Safety Net at the Ministry of Labor explained that at present the policy was targeting the informal sector – with the priority being those who were unemployed. He said that in spite of the existing cash transfer scheme there was need to provide the elderly people with a policy that would guide them in the future.
“This is a non-contributing scheme unlike National Social Security Insurance Trust (NASSIT) which is a contributing scheme”, Kamara said. He continued that “it only caters for those who are working so at the end of the day if you are retired you will lean on what you had been contributing to NASSIT”.
He went on to say: “Government is saying that as long as you are 60 years and above you must have actually contributed to the development of the country one way or the other. So it is the responsibility of the government to seek the interest of elderly people by helping them,” Kamara said.
He said part of the long-term goal of the policy included embarking on popularizing it through which it could be passed into law to attract funding from donors.
According to Statistics Sierra Leone people who are aged 60 and above constitute 3.5% of the total 7.5 million people in Sierra Leone.
There are no credible data on how many of those aged people are vulnerable.
In the current cash transfer scheme, the elderly people receive Le 150,000 (15US dollars) every three month. King said they were working to make sure this amount was increased.
"Definitely we have plans to increase the cash transfer fee. There will be a slight shift, but I cannot tell the amount because I am not the Finance Minister. We are running a system wherein everything is important. There are competing interests with very scarce resources. So, once the finance people are dine looking into it, they will apportion what they need to apportion to the different sectors," King said.
Kadiatu Bangura, 92, explained how much this initiative meant to her.
"If government is taking care of the vulnerable aged like me the idea is good. My children are all dead and I have no one who is taking care of me. I will use that money to buy food to eat," she said.
Amadu Sow, a student said he hoped government would go a step further by also providing medical care for these people.
“I hope government will put more emphasis on helping the poor by sustaining the initiative for the next generation. Therefore, government should not only disburse funds but provide medical care, shelter and pay people to care for them (the aged)," Sow said.
There are also plans to implement the universal cash transfer scheme for retirees.
© 2019 Politico Online
