Senior citizens in the Upper West Region have expressed concern over the deaths and maiming of the youth through motor accidents during visits of political party leaders and other political activities.

They said the region had been experiencing untold causalities emanating from careless and reckless riding of motorbikes during such visits and called for the institution of measures to halt the trend.

The senior citizens said if the trend was allowed to continue, it would not only inflict pain on parents but could have an impact on the critical and valuable human resources of the region.

They raised this concern at the Upper West Regions' edition of the “Senior Citizens’ Day” celebration to mark this year’s Ghana’s Republic Day at the weekend.

The pensioners called on political party leaders to take it upon themselves to educate their supporters to be disciplined on the road when they are attending political activities or ushering in their party leaders to their communities.

They also called on parents to counsel the youth to be careful on the road during political activities saying “one needs to be alive to be able to vote”.

Some of the pensioners also complained about low pension allowances and called on government to raise the pension allowances to the daily minimum wage level to help improve their living conditions.

“Some of us are receiving below 100 Ghana Cedis as pension allowances which is inadequate to keep our soul and body together”, they said, adding that government must do sometime about our plight.

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister who addressed the pensioners, acknowledged the contributions they made towards the development of the nation.

He appealed to them to continue to inculcate the spirit of nation building, self sacrifice and dedication to duty as well as discipline, hard work and the sense of belonging in the youth.

“We need to create more space and opportunity at all levels to enable our senior citizens share the experience with the younger generation as a way of inculcating those elements in them in order not to lose out on the essential elements that identifies us as a people”, he said.

Alhaji Sulemana expressed concern about the influence of foreign cultures, misplaced priorities, materialism and greed among the youth which he said were eroding the moral fibre of the Ghanaian people.

The regional minister reminded the retirees about the need for peace and stability in the communities, especially during this election year saying, it would do no one good if they spent their scarce resources and energies in resolving differences and conflicts arising from chieftaincy and land disputes.

Alhaji Sulemana cautioned the youth to remain law abiding so that the prevailing peace in the Ghana would be sustained.**