Lawmakers insist on granting themselves pension benefits

AMMAN — Parliament on Thursday decided to grant its members lifetime pensions equal to that of ministers, under the draft civil retirement law, which His Majesty King Abdullah rejected in 2012.

The controversial piece of legislation remained unendorsed for more than one-and-a-half years, after it triggered public outcry over “undeserved” retirement benefits for legislators.

The new formula of this bill, endorsed by the lawmakers at a joint session held on Thursday to resolve a dispute between the two chambers of Parliament, brought almost nothing new to the old version that was rejected.

If the law goes into effect, lawmakers’ pensions will be calculated based on ministers’ basic salaries, which is JD3,000 per month.

The deputies and senators endorsed a provision that sets a minimum of seven years of service in the post as an eligibility requirement applied to MPs, senators and ministers. In addition, the bill granted all lawmakers who were members of Parliament on May 20, 2010 and henceforth the same benefits. 

The bill maximises the lawmakers’ retirement benefits that were cancelled under the temporary Civil Retirement Law No. 10, for the year 2010.

This draft law is expected to renew the public outrage, amid budget strains, with a deficit estimated this year to hit JD1.2 billion and rising public debt.

In a rare move, the King rejected the law deputies endorsed in 2012 and ordered the incumbent government to conduct a comprehensive study of the retirement and benefits system in the three branches of government and make recommendations on which a new law would be based. 

The envisioned law, His Majesty said in a letter to Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour last year, should guarantee that no party would take advantage of the legislation to make unjust financial and pension-related benefits.

Senate Speaker and chairman of the Thursday’s joint meeting Abdur-Rau’f S. Rawabdeh said: “We must make things clear to the media and to the people as there are attempts to mislead the public on this issue: We do not seek personal benefits out of this bill.”

Meanwhile, former premier and head of the Foreign Affairs Committee Samir Rifai stood against the bill, saying it is unfair to give the lawmakers same retirement benefits of ministers. The parliamentarians can practise any commercial activities, except contracting with government agencies, but ministers are not allowed to do so or anything else except their ministerial duties, as per Article 44 of the Constitution. 

Ensour told lawmakers last year that such a move would cost the Treasury several additional million.