CAIRO: As controversy looms over the new pensions and insurance law, government officials continue to laud its benefits, saying it will improve the living standards of the lower segments of society. In an interview on terrestrial television Friday morning, Mohamed El-Demerdash, legal advisor to the Minister of Social Solidarity, explained that the new social insurance and pensions law is covering new socioeconomic segments. Those who live in one room with six other people and do not have electricity or a telephone connection and are unemployed will receive a monthly unemployment check of LE 160 with an additional LE 60 for every dependent. Research found that poor segments of society need financial aid as well as help finding a suitable job, said El-Demerdash. The law has been a source of controversy. Earlier this week, in an interview with Al Jazeera, former minister of social affairs and insurance, Ambassador Mervat El-Telawi, criticized the proposed law, saying that the government is “planning to pass it for ulterior motives that decrease the deficit and make the theft official,” she said. El-Demerdash, however, says the new law will address people in need, whose jobs don't offer pensions. “The president and the government have set this new law as they are [concerned] about the low income segments of society,” said El-Demerdash, adding that the raises in pensions will start next July. He explained that among those segments are the senior citizens who receive pensions and who have been given priority in the social and financial welfare. With the new law, more than 50 percent of the people currently receiving pensions will have their pensions raised from 50 to 150 percent. Saber Barakat, a lawyer and labor activist in the coordination committee for Rights and Freedoms of Workers Unions, described the law as “a way for the government to gather funds.” “The law we have now has been praised by the ILO as one of the best laws in the world. Why are we changing it? Because the law is costing the government, and the IMF says that the government should reduce social welfare spending,” he added.
