UCC honours 69 retirees for hard work
THE University of Cape Coast (UCC) has honoured 69 retirees for their immense contributions to the institution while in active service.
The retirees, including 22 senior members, 28 senior staff and 19 junior staff, were honoured at an awards ceremony on Wednesday.
They each received a citation and various awards such as refrigerators, deep freezers, television sets, sets of furniture and cash.
Out of the number, 57 had served the university for between 15 and 41 years.
Longest serving retiree
The longest serving retiree was Mr Ibrahim Mohammed of the Central Stores department who served for 41 years.
In his address, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor D.D Kuupole, said the university was putting in place a mechanism whereby retirees would have an office to enable them to come and share their experiences with the staff.
According to him, the university would not have reached where it was today had it not been the instrumental role of the retirees who devoted their service to the development of the university.
“Even though we cannot adequately compensate them for this, at least we can declare the depth of our gratitude to them,” Prof. Kuupole stated.
He said the Welfare Section of the division of Human Resource had introduced a programme to visit retirees in various parts of the country to interact with them and show the university’s continuous appreciation for their contributions towards the growth of the institution.
Access to Health Care
He said the university had initiated talks with other sister universities to ensure easy and free access to medical care for retirees as stipulated in the conditions of service of the university.
This system, he said, would allow retirees to enjoy free medical care at the nearest public university with ease.
Prof. Kuupole advised the workers unions to invest in their members and also help them to plan for their retirement.
He urged the retirees to take good care of their health and continue to contribute towards the development of the university.
“These token of gifts and citation are intended to serve as reminders to your working times at the University of Cape Coast,” he said.
Prof. Samuel Yeboah Mensah, on behalf of the retirees, commended the university for the awards and called on the university to continue to build stronger relationships with retirees.