The University of Cape Coast (UCC) has honoured 38 retiring staff members after several years of service to the University.
The retirees, who served the UCC between 10 and 42 years, were made up of 20 Senior Members, 12 Senior Staff and 10 Junior staff members.
They received refrigerators, gas cookers with cylinders, set of living room furniture, televisions with a TV guard and citations.
The long service ceremony was introduced in 2004 to appreciate the invaluable service by retiring staff of the university.
Initially, the ceremony presented awards and citations to retiring staff who had served the university for at least 10 years and more.
The management of the university, however, reviewed the awards, extending it to all retiring staff irrespective of the number of years served since every staff member was deemed to have contributed to the growth of the university in various capacities.
Those honoured included John Egya Ekow Abonyi who served the university for 42 years.
They were honoured for their meritorious and dedicated services to UCC during the 2025 Send Off and Long Service Awards Ceremony held at the School of Graduate Studies Auditorium.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Denis Aheto, congratulated the retirees on their support and contribution during their active years at UCC. He stated that the retirees had made significant contributions in their areas of work and spent the greatest parts of the productive years in the institution.
"We cannot adequately compensate you for the invaluable services but we can at least express our depth of gratitude to each of you. Ayeekoo," he added.
Prof. Aheto noted that the major criteria for determining the value of the award given to the retirees was the length of service, adding that management was pleased to continue with the programme and would explore other avenues to improve on the packages for retirees amidst the limited financial resources.
He added that management would maintain a continuous appreciation and commitment to the wellbeing of the retirees by strengthening and providing medical health support to the retired staff as a way of supporting their health.
He urged them to join UCC Pensionners Association so they could network and fraternise amongst themselves.
He announced that plans were afoot to establish a Health and wellness center for the retired staff of the university.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor admonished employees to take time off to ponder over the kind of relationships they had individually established with the institution and with others over the years and to improve such relationships.
The Acting Vice-Chancellor urged active staff to exude the values of punctuality, loyalty, honestly, trustworthiness, commitment, professionalism, and excellence to sustain the gains made by UCC.
He implored the retirees to take good care of themselves and stay healthy to contribute to the development of the University.
Speaking on behalf of the retirees, the immediate past Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. Moses Joojo Eghan, expressed appreciation to the management and staff for their support and encouragement.
He said the retirees had given off their best for the growth of the university.
Prof. Eghan urged those in active service to continue to work assiduously for the University to stand on its feet.