ABU DHABI // One topic that has regularly made its way onto the agenda of the Federal National Council is pensions.
While the 1999 amendments to the pension law were welcome, amendments made in 2007 were not.
The subsequent amendments were believed to favour certain groups and ignore senior pensioners.
The calls for reform came as early as the first year the council convened, in 2011, when Dr Abdullah Al Shamsi (Ajman) retold the sad tales of pensioners who were suffering financially.
He called for an increase in payments for those who retired before 2008 and receive less than those who retired after. He also wanted to link pension payments to inflation.
In other instances, members have called for early retirement for women and cutting the ties between years of work and age of retirement.
For several years, a handful of members brought up the same issues.
Many pension holders have asked for the 2007 amendments to be scrapped and for the law to return to its 1999 standards, or for amendments to be made. But the pension authority has not budged.
Every time a debate was set with Obaid Al Tayer, the Minister of State for Finance Affairs and the deputy head of the General Authority for Pensions and Social Security, members have been left with few answers to offer frustrated pensioners.
Mr Al Tayer has told the council on a number of occasions that the authority had nothing to do with existing payments because they were mandated by law.
His reply has left members angry more than once.
Dr Al Shamsi said Mr Al Tayer’s answers gave the impression that they were living in “different worlds”.
Even Mr Al Tayer’s method of dealing with the council has been unwelcome. One memorable incident was his refusal to respond to a question sent by Dr Abdulrahim Al Shahin (RAK). He cited the lack of signature by the FNC Speaker, Mohammed Al Murr.
The minister’s refusal was seen as mocking the council.
When it became evident that little could be done from the Minister’s side, members took matters into their own hands. Last year, in a letter to the President, Sheikh Khalifa, they raised the need to reform the pensions law.
The letter called for amendments to the law that would increase eligibility, synchronise the two pension systems and lower the retirement age for many women.
It also cited the need to allow those working in small and medium enterprises to be made eligible for state pensions, to encourage more citizens to enter the private sector.
Less than a month after the letter was finalised, the Cabinet ordered the pensions authority to draft a new law.
While it looked like the council’s wishes were about to come true after a long struggle, the issue has arisen once again in the latest address made by Mosabeh Al Kitbi (Sharjah).
He said it had been 13 months since the Cabinet’s decision and there had been no word from the authority.
With only a few months left in the members’ four-year term, it is safe to say the issue will remain a hot topic until the council’s last days.
Although the current members will not be around to review a new bill once it reaches the FNC and make the amendments they have made repeated calls for over the years, the noise members have made may well be enough to leave the next council with clear directions when the bill lands on their laps.
osalem@thenational.ae