CAIRO - Egypt's pensioners suffer from negligence and humiliation. They accuse the former regime of having exploited their ‘private' funds. Experts hope to establish an independent authority to look after the pensioners' interests. "We were satisfied with a proposed 10 per cent rise in pensions, but the Government still ignores our demands," Umm Mohamed, who cares for seven children, complained. In December 2011, Minister of Insurance and Pensions Nagwa Khalil announced a 10 per cent increase in pensions as of January 2012. However, Khalil has now revealed that the increase would not come into effect in January as promised, but only in three months' time. She explained that the exact date would be determined according to the State budget and its ability to accommodate this financial burden. Pensioners organised a sit-in last week, rejecting Khalil's statements and announcing that LE453 billion were earmarked as pension funds. The pensioners added that the current Finance Minister, Momtaz Said, had put pressure on Khalil to retract her decision to increase the pensions. They criticised Khalil and vowed to force her to step down, if the promised rise was not implemented. Millions of pensioners, widows and orphans suffer from bad health and financial problems. "I worked in governmental hospitals for 36 years, and all I get is LE400," said Hasanat Mohamed, a 60-year-old widow, who is ill with Hepatitis C. Another pensioner wants a pension increase of 30 per cent. "I have a son and two daughters, who will get married soon. I simply want to die," said Ahmed Imam 65, who receives LE210 in pension money. "We demand a 30 per cent increase starting in January and another 20 per cent in July. We want to recover LE453 billion in the State budget," he added, referring to former finance minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali's decision to use pension funds to overcome the budget deficit. The National Investment Bank (NIB) was set up in 1980 to invest pension fund money in high-return development projects. As soon as Boutros-Ghali became finance minister in 2005, he did everything he could to bring the National Organisation for Social Insurance and Pensions (NOSIP) under the puriview of his ministry. To meet this objective, former premier Ahmed Nazif's government decided to cancel the Ministry of Social Insurance, which was in charge of administering pension fund investments in co-ordination with the NIB. That's when Boutros-Ghali decided that the NOSIP had to come under his supervision, so he could use these funds to fill the huge budget deficit and stem the tide of local Government debts. Boutros-Ghali's seemingly brilliant idea, which led to key amendments of Article 218 in the executive regulations of the 1973 State Budget Law (53), empowered his ministry to appropriate pension savings legally and end the Social Insurance Authority's control. Due to the powerful National Democratic Party's ever-present influence on the legislative parliament under Mubarak, Boutros-Ghali managed to silence those who protested about his manoeuvres. "The exploitation of pension funds was a big crime, the result of the regime's corrupt policies. The officials responsible for squandering these funds must be put on trial," activist Karima el-Hefnawi said. In 1992, the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled that deposits in pension funds were private and should remain completely independent from the Government. An MP also expressed his worries that the Government could fail to pay pensioners their monthly pension. "The citizens ask the Government to reveal the true facts. It must give the pension funds to the pensioners and promise not to cut their monthly pensions," el-Badri Farghali, MP and head of Pensioners' Union, told Arabic-language Al-Wafd newspaper. "I call on the formation of an independent pension authority, which will look after 'private' pension funds. This independent authority will depend on financial experts to invest funds in high-interest projects," el-Hefnawi stated. "The proposed higher pension commission will get the best interest rates for pensioners and retired people. The commission can establish progressive projects with higher revenues than those offered by the banks," said Rashad Abdou, a professor of economics at the American University in Cairo.
