The Social Security Corporation in Palestine

- The General Department for Oversight of Infrastructure ... carries out regulatory auditing and financial auditing work on the entities subject to its oversight, which numbered 33 entities, as stated in the annual report of the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) in Palestine for the year 2020....

- The Social Security Corporation in Palestine was established pursuant to Decision No. 19 of 2016, in order to manage social insurance, stipulated in paragraph (1) of Article (3) of the said Decree-Law..and which seeks to provide social insurance benefits to the insured and their families...and to implement all provisions related to social security, contained in the 1994 Paris Economic Protocol, signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB) conducted an audit of the work of the Social Security Corporation and the following are some of the texts from that report...

- Following the decision issued by His Excellency the President concerning the suspension of implementation of Decree-Law No. 19 of 2016 regarding social security and the continuation of dialogue, no decision was issued (to form a national team) and charge it with the task of (amending the said Decree-Law)..so that it would be acceptable to all concerned parties and become implementable...

- The total expenditures of the Social Security Corporation amounted to $2,376,891 on its activities since its establishment, however none of its objectives were achieved..!. The sources of financing these expenditures were a grant from the International Labour Organization in the amount of $1,673,404 to cover establishment expenses, and $703,387 from the loan the Corporation obtained from Bank of Palestine to cover its operating expenses...!

- The absence of governance, specifically in decisions on hiring and absorbing employees, where all employees were appointed according to possible job titles, and not based on actual need...!

- Procedural manuals and financial policies were not adopted by the Corporation, and there are no detailed written administrative instructions for managing personnel affairs, in addition to the absence of publication of the financial data and nonfinancial activities of the Corporation for the purpose of informing the public and the relevant parties...!

- A specific salary scale for the Corporation was not prepared and adopted; moreover, the Director General of the Corporation was appointed by direct recruitment..!

- Material observations were recorded regarding the implementation of the purchase of the Corporation’s office furniture, in terms of the procurement mechanism, referral, award, receipt, and conformity with technical specifications...!

- All establishments required to join the Corporation and pay contributions for their workers were not identified and followed up, and the mechanism to determine whether they were complete or not was not documented.

- Most minutes of the Board of Directors’ meetings are limited to the signatures of the chairman and some members of the Corporation’s Board of Directors, amid a clear absence of signatures of the remaining board members...!

- No systems or instructions specific to the Social Security Corporation were adopted by the Council of Ministers.

- The budgets and financial statements of the Social Security Corporation for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 were not published....nor were any financial reports on the Corporation’s condition published.!

- There are no reports from the Workers’ Rights Committee on its work and achievements, except for what was recorded in the Board of Directors’ deliberations concerning the Ministry of Finance, which had recognized pension rights for (76,000 Palestinian workers) who hold permits, and that they have approximately 3 billion shekels..!. However these amounts are not detailed..and cannot be dealt with....!

- No effort was made to inventory the deductions that were made from the wages of Palestinian workers in Israel since 1970...until the date of preparing this report, as the State of Palestine does not have any accurate financial statements.....about the size of these deductions, especially pension deductions.....!

- There is no legal assessment of the status of the financial rights of Palestinian workers inside the Green Line since 1970..!

- There is no approved organizational structure for the Corporation, nor a strategic risk management plan, as the Corporation does not have a strategic plan to manage the risks that threaten its interests and continuity.

- The Director General of the Corporation did not prepare and complete a strategic work plan for the Corporation covering a period of 3-5 years, which should be approved by the Board of Directors, contrary to the responsibilities assigned to the Director General and stipulated in his employment contract.!

- The Director General of the Corporation did not prepare and complete an annual work plan (an implementation plan), detailed for the Corporation.!

- There is no mechanism for disclosure of conflicts of interest, independence and administrative impartiality for all employees of the Corporation, including the Director General, department directors, and the chairman and members of the Board of Directors.!

- The loan guarantee at Bank of Palestine was not documented, and withdrawals from the loan continued and its value was not repaid after the suspension of implementation of Decree-Law No. 19 of 2016 regarding social security.!

- A number of employees deleted some files and correspondence related to the Corporation’s work before leaving the Corporation.....!!

- The Corporation’s response was positive and it stated that (the recommendations will be taken), and emphasized that the Corporation (was under establishment)....! ....as the SAACB report also stated....

- I comment... What kind of justification is this for the violations and observations, which came under the pretext that the Corporation was under establishment.! And I say that this is an excuse that is professionally unacceptable.., at a time when the Corporation was teeming with competent employees and experts in the field of social security who received training here and there, the training programs having been financed under the supervision of the International Labour Organization...!. Also, the strategic plan...and the work plan and the set objectives...ought to have been ready and prepared in advance....to implement the details. As the saying goes in our dialect (على سنجي طق), before you open your doors....so what is it lacking? And we always say in establishing businesses and public institutions that we (start from where others finished)...!.....I also wonder at the appearance of the violations and observations at the Corporation when it emerged that some employees had destroyed, or (deleted) some files related to the Corporation’s work before leaving the Corporation...! Why? ..Did they seal the knowledge..?..and tear up the textbooks as pupils do....when the school term ends....!

- This is a basic, important and strategic institution for establishing a social safety net for working citizens in Palestine..and it became clear during the Corona pandemic how necessary it was to protect these workers from work stoppage..which would have supported the national economy and citizens...and the Corporation would have fulfilled what was required..if it had existed,.....(see what the Social Security Corporation in Jordan implemented in terms of protection programs for all working segments of society and others, despite the controversy over such programs and the government’s legitimacy to draw from the social security fund.)..!... .I am among those who strongly call for its reinstatement, according to the understandings and amendments required, in a national dialogue committee, governed by legal legislation..to avoid the observations, violations, deficiencies and flaws that led to the suspension of implementation of the Decree-Law establishing the Corporation...until when..!..

- Date: 11-9-2021