The world commemorates a day for
older persons 1st of October. This year, it is the 25th anniversary
of International Day of Older Persons (IDOP). Older persons face great
challenges but older persons in Africa and other developing countries face even
greater challenges. According to the
Uganda Bureau of Statistics, there are about 1.3 million persons above the age
of 60 years in Uganda.
Most of these older persons live
in isolation, they lack social protection, suffer the high burden of
non-communicable diseases and face poverty. The scourge of HIV/AIDS which
ravaged the sub-Saharan African countries is one of the major causes of challenges
which face the elderly.
The scourge led to high numbers of orphans left in the
care of older persons. The other major cause of tribulations among older
persons is war and instability that spread across many parts of the Uganda in
the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s for the parts of Northern and South Western Uganda
near the DRC boarder. War and conflict cause displacement, they distort the
labour cycle, cause stress and result into a future generation of
disillusionment.
The other cause and perhaps the
most profound cause of suffering among the senior citizens in rural
communities, is the erosion of social or cultural ties and values. Culturally
the older persons were cared for by the young in communities. The cultural
nature of communities respected the elderly and in sense that they were never
left to live and die alone in homes while ‘their’ children lived in cities like
today.
With the current trend of affairs
therefore, the onus is on governments and civil society organizations to
support the elderly. While the government continues to increase the bases of
solicited taxes from those in employment, more investment in social services
needs to be done. This is the only way that the young will be able to work for
and to support the elderly. The government needs to ensure that essential and
special services for the elderly. Services as, social protection schemes for the elderly,
general health care, palliative care and geriatric care should be introduced,
strengthened and sustained.
There is also need for deliberate
effort for government systems and civil society strictures to respect the
elderly. It is disheartening for example to learn continuously from the press
that monies meant for payment to pensioners is misappropriated. Of recent,
there have also been reports that a number of pensioners have taken some months
without receiving their monthly stipends. Such should be guarded against and
instead the government and the National Social Security fund should initiate
reforms that offer constant and decent income to the elderly during retirement.
The obligation of the government
towards the senior citizens is embedded in article 32 of the
1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda which states that “the state shall
make reasonable provision for the welfare and maintenance of the elderly”. By
ensuring better living conditions for the elderly, the current generation will
only be preparing a soft landing for themselves, after all we all grow old as
day follows night.
