A Kumasi-based Chartered Accountant, Mr. Gabriel Nyame, has petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to consider a review of the retirement age upwards.
The advocate says the move will enhance productivity and service delivery from the rich experiences of individuals and professionals.
He cited factors like shortage of professionals and the need to retain experienced workers as the basis of the petition to the President.
“Now that we are in the era of resetting the country, I respectfully suggest to the government of Ghana to come out to amend the retirement age, as done by the UK, US, Germany, Nigeria, Libya, Zimbabwe governments and many other African and overseas countries.
“We (Ghanaians) expect President John Mahama to come out with a new retirement age as done by Presidents Donald Trump of the US and Tinubu of Nigeria, to help build the nation”, the petitioner stated.
Mr. Nyame stated that the unemployment problem, which serves as the basis of static or short retirement age with the aim of solving the unemployment challenges in Ghana has not yielded any fruitful results, but rather worsened the situation.
According to him, Research has shown that countries which have a long retirement age and are able to retain their professionals to capitalise on the rich experience of their workers, who are making progress and development more than those with a short retirement age.
He noted that Ghana is not the only country in the world facing an unprecedented rate of unemployment, as developed and developing countries are also confronted with serious unemployment challenges, but they are progressing as a result of retaining their professional and experienced workers despite long or indefinite retirement age.
He said Nigeria, for instance, has raised the retirement age for certain professionals like health workers and teachers to 65 years and consultants now can work until 70 years despite the unemployment rate of 4.3% of the total population of 236.3 million as of Saturday April 19, 2025.
He said in South Africa, where the unemployment rate is 31.9% of the total population of 63.21 million, the statutory retirement age is 65 years and that while 65 remain the official retirement age, most South Africans cannot afford to retire at this age as most them work additional fifteen years to achieve financial security.
South Africa’s retirement age is higher than that of Ghana, yet it has developed more than Ghana where the professionals retire at 60, he said.
Quoting International Labour organisation database, Mr. Nyame said that the standard retirement age in Libya is 65 for men and 60 for women and that some individuals can retire earlier at 60 with their employer’s consent while others may continue working beyond the legal retirement age with employers’ approval up to 70 years.
Mr. Nyame further pointed out that the government of Zimbabwe with unemployment rate of 11.92% of the total population of 16.9 million, has introduced a new policy to extend the retirement age for civil servants and uniformed personnel from 65 to 70 years in a bid to retain skilled workers in the public sector.
The UK, he said, fixed the state pension age at 66 for both men and women in 2010 and currently set it to increase to 67 for those born on or after April 1960, starting in May 2026 to align with increasing life expectancy and ensure the long-term sustainability of the state pension scheme.
Currently, there is no longer a forced retirement age in the UK, since 2021, as the law states that you can work for as long as you want.
In Germany, currently, the retirement age of 66 years applies to people born in 1959 and might reach 67 by 2031 with the exception of anyone who has made a pension contribution of forty-five years.
Mr. Nyame also cited Canada, Belgium, Denmark and Finland among other countries where their standard retirement age is pegged at 66 and above and that countries with the highest retirement age for both men and women as of 2024 are Australia, Netherlands and Greece.
He said effective April 2025 the retirement age in the US has changed from 65 to 67 to address the rising life expectancy and ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the social security system and to retain experienced workers.
Mr. Nyame, however, said in Ghana, instead of using professionals and experienced workers in nation building after 60, the country rather retires their knowledge, experience and wisdom, and replaces them with inexperienced personnel.
In the light of these, Mr. Nyame has pleaded with the Government of Ghana to take a second look at the country’s short retirement age by amending the retirement age Act to ensure an increase in positivity and development flow into the country.
The proponent explained that though developed and developing countries in the world all face chronic unemployment challenges, the long retirement age is still in place by retaining their professionals and experienced workers to contribute to development in one way or the other.
Proffering a solution to the unemployment challenges, Mr. Nyame suggested to the government to pass a law enjoining all mission universities to create local industries or factories or services to absorb their graduates who complete their programmes so that the burden of finding job for the university graduates will not only rest on the Government.
He said the Churches alone can transform Ghana economy for better in the area of employment because they are good managers of their resources evidenced in an audit reports of churches, which reveal less financial embezzlement, malfeasance, misappropriation or misapplication of funds or financial irregularities than the case in the public sector.
