High-income earners’ requests for in-kind support draw social media backlash

AMMAN — Employees with salaries between JD3,000 and JD4,000 have applied to the Social Security Corporation (SSC) platform that aims at helping daily wage workers and the underprivileged, spurring angry reaction from social media users.

“It is shameful that people whose salaries are in the thousands apply through the SSC gate for in-kind assistance, competing with the hundreds of thousands of daily wage workers and those who are very much in need,” SSC Spokesperson Musa Sbeihi posted on his Facebook account on Friday night.

In the post, he said: “If you are paid JD3,000 or JD4,000, what need do you have for a food parcel?! Our responsibility is to provide assistance to those deserving it only, which is what we did and will keep on doing.”

The gate, accessible on: https://service1.ssc.gov.jo/sscaid/, was launched at the end of March, receiving applications from daily wage workers, whose jobs were suspended under the current coronavirus crisis and those above 70 years of age unable to provide for themselves and their families, Sbeihi explained in an official SSC statement, issued before his post on social media.

In the statement, which Sbeihi shared with The Jordan Times, he said that until Friday, 420,000 requests have been submitted, adding that the corporation is processing the submitted applications in accordance with standards and data from the National Aid Fund, delivering either food parcels or shopping coupons to those who meet the standards.

Each food parcel costs JD40-50, while the shopping coupons are worth JD25, one is given to a family of one-four members, two for families with 5-10 members and three to families with over 10 members.

Sbeihi said that rumours that circulated on social media about applicants receiving JD100-worth parcels or a certain amounts of money are untrue, adding that the corporation only sent urgent food parcels to families comprising only elderly at a cost of JD15.

The spokesperson urged all those who submit applications to be indeed of need, especially that the initial round of background check for the first batch of applicants revealed that only 20 per cent needed support.

Commenting on the applicants whose salaries are in the thousands and are requesting assistance, Jawad Irbas said that “such people would not be satisfied even if given all the money in the world, and they need to be held accountable and stopped. My salary is only JD250 and I did not apply because I know how to live with as much as I have.”

Menwer Hayyal commented: “Their names and exact salaries need to be publicly published, and if they deny it, their application can be shared too.”

Meanwhile, Feras Momani commented that “if they are not ashamed to apply, you should not be ashamed to publish their names, the situation has become unbelievable…”