Let’s have ombudsman for the old

ONCE AGAIN another Senior Citizens Month has come to an end – with the usual meaningless platitudes.

Meanwhile seniors suffer from various forms of abuse.

They include a society that sets out to expropriate their property or seize their house spots which have not been built on after a certain period, or robs them by predial larceny.

The case of Patrick Bethel and his cassava crop some years ago is an example. Old farmers struggling to survive have had to destroy trees for the sake of peace.

I know of an old woman who won a case awarding her an area of land. The defiant persons who lost proceeded to place a house on the same land.

The old lady went back to court and won.

The house was taken down and placed beside the road. After a while, the same defiant ones placed one, two, three and four houses on the same land.

The woman is now too old and tired to fight the case further.

Of course, there are also those vultures who seize senior citizens’ pensions and other property. One answer to all this is the senior citizens’ ombudsman who should be voted for every three years by senior citizens only.

NICHOLAS HEADLEY