The Member of Parliament for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga has called for a review of Ghana's retirement age for persons in the public service.

Mr Mahama Ayariga made this submission during Wednesday’s vetting process by the Appointments Committee in Parliament.

According to the legislator, the retirement age should be revised from 60 to 65 years for persons in the public service of Ghana that includes the prisons, Immigration, Fire Service, Judicial Service, Ghana Education Service among others.

He stated: "I am sponsoring a bill which is proposing that we should further amend the constitution to extend the compulsory retirement age from 60 to 65. Because at the time that…We can also say that there should be a contract after 65 but the compulsory retirement age should be 65 instead of 60."

The Bawku Central MP indicated that some sections of the 1992 Constitution provide some persons in some public services the opportunity of a 5-year contract after retirement.

"Article 190 of the Constitution sets out the public services of Ghana; prisons, Immigration, Fire Service, Judicial Service, Ghana Education Service, all those services and [Article] 191 says that the retirement age is 60.

"Compulsory retirement age is 60 and there was an amendment to [Article] 191 which enabled five-year contract to be given to a retiree subject to certain conditions.

"And also, judicial officers, Article 148 deals with judicial officers and [Article] 150 also says that judicial officers must retire at age 60. There is no amendment that gives a right to contract after age 60," he said.

The reason for this initiative according to him stems from Ghana's present life expectancy which is 64.42 years and can be attributed to the provision of better healthcare.

"Because in 1992 when we set the retirement age at 60, the life expectancy was 57.46 years. Today, life expectancy in Ghana due to improvement in health and infrastructure is 64.42 years.

"We are losing a lot of experienced, very healthy and capable people in the public service to retirement," he added.

Meanwhile, Minister-designate for Labour and Employment, Ignatius Baffour Awuah in response to the matter says a thorough analysis must be made before passing a law to that effect.

"If you are looking at the sustainability of pension when you have a shorter working period, it does not really order well for the health of your pension scheme. When people stay more and work, they accumulate more funds; they are able to retire on a handsome pension than when their working period is very short," he said.

He indicated that any review of the retirement age must fully address the pros and cons associated with it.

He further explained that "we live in a country where unemployment is considerably high. You have more and more people completing school and would want to be engaged in the system so if you have a chunk of tired hands already in the system and the new ones are also not getting jobs to do, it is also a concern."

"We don't have to look at it from one side of the coin. We may have to look at it from both sides and be able to make a judgement," he added.