Retired workers in the Upper East Region have called on Government to as a matter of urgency consider including pensioners in the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

They said they were affected by the inflationary trends in the country, which made life unbearable for them and asked Government to do something about the situation.

The pensioners made the call at a reception organized by the Regional Coordinating Council for them at the Regional Minister’s residency on Sunday to mark Ghana’s Republic Day.

The retired workers appealed to Government to come out with pragmatic measures to rectify the perennial delay of the release of the school feeding grant to Senior High Schools in the Upper West, Uppers East and Northern Regions.

They said the perennial late release of the grants, which often led to the closure of schools in the regions whilst their counterparts in the southern sector do not experience this, affected the academic standards of students in the north.

The pensioners said they would support efforts aimed at improving education.

They debunked the assertion that Ghana was poor and said corruption and laziness among some Ghanaians workers were the bane of under development, and regretted the use of ghost names to dupe the nation of huge sums of money.

The Upper East Deputy Coordinator, Mr. J. Adu-Koranteng, delivered a speech on behalf of the Upper East Regional Minister Mr. Mark Woyongo.

Mr. Woyongo appealed to retired workers to be ambassadors of peace, especially as the forthcoming elections got closer.

He asked workers in active service to start planning for their retirement and reminded them that “it is very important to start planning towards your pension as soon as you are giving an appointment letter so as to avoid embarrassment and frustration”.**