Reem Leila reports on those who are falling through the cracks of Egypt's social insurance and pension systems Bread vendor Abdel-Aal Ateya is 75 years old and needs financial support. He has three children, one of whom is married with four children. "I have to take care of them all, and everything is so expensive," he laments. Ateya has prepared all the necessary papers to get a pension. "Over the past two years I have been told that I am on the waiting list and that I should not lose hope," he recounts. As part of the package provided by the populist state of Gamal Abdel-Nasser in the 1960s, the Egyptian government became responsible for providing pensions to all those who have reached the age of retirement (60 years), as well as those who suffer permanent disability, under the umbrella of several pension laws, financed in most cases by contributions from both employers and employees, with the government covering any deficit. This system was developed under subsequent regimes and today several systems are in co-existence: the general pension law (GPL) initiated in 1936 which covers basic pensions, the Social Security Pension (SSP) which started in 1950 covering those without a source of regular income, the Sadat Social Insurance System (SSIS) which was created in 1978 covering those who suffer total disability and those over 65 whose income is less than LE70 monthly, and finally the Mubarak Social Insurance System (MSIS) which started in 1995 and is a development of Sadat's system. Low coverage in both scope and quality is resulting in increased poverty among the aged; a serious problem when, according to recent reports from the demographic division of the United Nations, the number of old will surpass that of youth for the first time in history by the year 2050. How will the aged manage when pension funds dry up as the retired outnumber those working and contributing? In Egypt, the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) has released figures recently that show that the proportion of citizens over the age of 60 is on the increase. According to the same study, the numbers of those covered by the Egyptian Social Insurance System (ESIS) amounts to only 13 per cent in the informal sector and 25 per cent in the private sector, though 89 per cent of public sector employees are covered. According to Gamal Shedid, consultant to the minister of insurance and social affairs, in theory the entire population is covered by one of the different insurance schemes. In practice, however, only half of the population is actually enrolled under one of the ESIS schemes. The SSP, which started in 1950, should cover about seven million citizens. The actual number benefiting from the system, according to Shedid, is only 664,976. The rest are on a waiting list. Additionally, for those covered, the money is never enough. "The SSP provided citizens with LE1.20 per month in 1950, increasing until it reached LE17 in 1991, and then LE62 in 2000, depending on the number of family members," explained Shedid acquiescing that "of course, this amount of money is not enough for anything." Kamla Ahmed, a 37 year-old housewife, has applied for the SSP. She has three children at different educational stages. Her husband has been in prison for five years and she suffers from severe bronchitis. "How would LE62 be sufficient for my medicine, my kid's education, food, clothes and the rest life demands?" asks Ahmed. According to Shedid, all those benefiting from the SSP were granted full freedom to change their social security system to the SSIS in the 1970s. However, the Ministry of Insurance and Social Affairs (MISA) has stopped accepting more people under this system since 1995. The reason given was the inauguration of the Mubarak system (MSIS). Mohamed Ahmed Rashwan is a 45-year-old crippled married man who has six children. "For over a year I have tried to put together the papers necessary for MSIS. Each time I go, employees of the Pension Association find me a missing document that is, according to them, very important. Then I find myself going again through the hassles of bringing such a document. This is not easy at all. I barely see. It is very difficult for me to find someone each time I go out to accompany me," says Rashwan. Some argue the system does not work because of bad management. According to Ahmed Saadallah, head of the legislative department at MISA, the government's share in financing the pension systems in Egypt has increased by almost 100-150 per cent in the past few years. "The government considers this money a big waste as it is being cut from the general budget with no return. But we know that this amount is not enough for the whole seven million citizens. It is a vicious circle, and we are unable to get out of it," he said. However, to Nawal Ahmed, head of the Fatwa department of the MISA, "Those who apply for the Mubarak's pension do not want to work. They only want to take money; this is not right. We provide money only for those who cannot work due to aging, or severe disability. The current economic status of the country cannot bear the burden of funding various pension systems. People have to be more understanding to the country's circumstances," she insists. With poverty enveloping 20 per cent of the population Ahmed's retort might seem somewhat harsh. A new "unified social insurance" draft law is now under consideration, slated to be presented before the People's Assembly within a few months. It will include new benefits for pensioners, for example increasing the minimum pension in the case of work-related injury leading to total disability from a 60 per cent maximum of a given worker's previous wage to 80 per cent. And it is hoped the new law will include new categories of beneficiaries and hence extend social insurance protection to all the citizens including informal sector labourers and vendors. But is the law a must or a ruse to direct attention away from the recent scandal when it became clear that the government was using insurance funds in the financial markets, in stock exchange operations and in investment projects? According to Fay'a El-Refaai, an eminent economist and member of the economic committee of the People's Assembly, "it is unconstitutional to invest insurance monies as they are considered private and not public. Further, it is an uncertain, risky and volatile business." In the late 1990s around LE900 million was invested in the stock market. "Under the present pension plans people are still able to collect their money," said El-Refaai, "but who knows what will happen in the future? I expect within very few years, if the government does not return this money, a time will come when people will find nothing to get. By then, it will be too late for any solution, and only God knows what will happen."
