EVERY FEW days we hear of some other ingenious way in which members of the Cyprus Republic nomenclature take care of themselves. In the last 10 days or so we have been reading in Politis about the extortionate state pensions paid out to retired top civil servants and ministers. These state pensions are higher than the salaries the majority of people are ever paid in the private sector, without the civil servants contributing a cent towards them.
The real outrage however is that these privileged citizens, apart from collecting a state pension, in excess of €3,000 per month (in some cases it is in excess of €4,000) also collect an old-age pension from the Social Insurance Fund. The old-age pension (€1,500) is almost three times higher than what private sector pensioners are paid by the fund, even though the latter pay twice as big a contribution during their working lives. Apart from civil servants all state teachers enjoy this privilege as well.
By what logic or principle of social justice does someone paid an ultra-generous pension by the state collect a second pension from the Social Insurance Fund that is three times as high as what is paid to private sector retirees? There is no logic or principle of social justice to justify the legalised privileges offered to state employees.
What logic is there to a system that allows top state employees to collect pensions for every post they had served in? One retiree who had served as permanent secretary and subsequently as a minister is collecting pensions for both posts, plus an old age pension. His total monthly pensions are in excess of €11,000 per month, without taking into account the pension he is paid (amount is unknown) for serving a term as the Governor of the Central Bank.
President Christofias has reportedly ordered an investigation into the multi-pension system, but what is there to find out? The law is unfair and should be amended so that state officials are entitled to just one pension – the highest they are entitled to. And no pension from the Social Insurance Fund should be paid to them or to teachers. Another amendment should be made to the law barring retired civil servants from collecting a pension when they are re-employed by the state. Their pension payments should be suspended for the duration of their contract. Why for instance is the Deputy Attorney-general and the Competition Commissioner, who are on annual salaries in excess of €100,000 also collecting a fat state pensions?
Is an investigation required to establish that this privileged group is sucking state coffers dry and that the system is in urgent need of radical reform?
