Senya Breku (C/R), Mar. 1, GNA - The government and the church, have been urged to establish endowment funds for the aged.

Mr. Albert Bart Sam, Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Reverend Eldad Bonney of the Local Council of Churches, were speaking at a symposium organised by the Winneba District of the Christian Council of Ghana at Senya Breku.

It was to create awareness on the need to support the aged and was sponsored by the International Foundation of Electoral Systems (IFES). Mr. Sam recalled the traditional system of caring for the aged and said since that is gradually eroding, there is the need for permanent measures to care for them.

He called for data on the aged to enable the government to put them on a special salary to enable the aged to live decent lives without necessarily depending on friends and relatives.

Rev. Bonney noted that if churches establish such a fund, their problems would be drastically reduced to prolong their life. He said the situation in which majority of the aged, "have been turned into beggars" because their relatives have abandoned them should not be allowed to continue.

Rev. Bonney said with the increasing number of church members, such a fund could attract millions of cedis.