Social benefits were introduced to sustain people in need and over the years, the list of beneficiaries has grown to be more in line with the different and changing needs of society. These benefits help many families stay above the poverty line and assist others who need some extra cash as they raise children or take care of disabled people.

Today’s workers are paying 10 per cent of their salary directly into the system, and this money is used by the government for pensions, children’s allowances, sick leave and a host of other benefits that fall under the social benefits umbrella.

So far, so good. If the system were perfect, then this money would be well spent. People who are in need of support should get it. Society cannot, and should not, abandon its weakest members.

But the system is not perfect – far from it.

This has been acknowledged by successive governments, regardless of the party in power. That there is massive abuse is common knowledge, and yet so little is done to clean up the system and bring offenders to book.

Year after year, people continue to receive financial aid through social benefits that they do not deserve. This money should be going to those who really need it, and yet it ends up in other pockets. Governments have pledged to curb the phenomenon, and yet the phenomenon persists. It is probably growing, too.

In the last budget, the government said it will work “to maintain and develop a system of social security that evaluates who is the most in need in order to have a fair society. At the same time we are increasing our fight against waste and deceit”.

There you have it: “our fight against waste and deceit”. The government is once again admitting that abuse is still rampant and that, as yet, it has failed to come up with a system that helps those people who are really in need while weeding out those who abuse it – and making them pay for “stealing” from society.

In this day and age of super technology and computer wizards, is it so hard to find out who is raking in social security benefits when he or she should not be doing so? And, another question, should everyone who is currently receiving some kind of social benefit continue doing so?

Why should I pay for that teenager who cannot keep her legs together and then says she does not know who the father of her child is?

Why should I pay for that worker who takes a week of sick leave and then goes to paint a house for payment (and without giving a VAT receipt, too)?

Why should I pay to support the child of a separated woman and her working partner, with whom she shares a house, who declares herself as a single mother?

Why should I pay for someone who registers as unemployed and earns more than I do in the black economy?

Why should I pay for workers who systematically add their sick leave allowance to their vacation leave days and plan when to take them during the course of a year?

Why should I pay for that parent – in all probability a mother – who, in spite of being well, takes a week’s sick leave to stay with her ill child (and gets her doctor to sign a sickness benefit certificate)?

Why should I pay for that woman who wants a baby at all costs and, irrespective of whether she has a steady partner or has been sleeping around, registers it as having an unknown father?

Why should I pay for someone who receives a disability benefit after claiming he is unable to work, but who then turns down an odd job because he already has so much to do?

I am all in favour of a fair society, as Finance Minister Tonio Fenech mentioned in his budget speech, but is society being fair with me?

I really would like to know how the government is “fighting waste and deceit”. I am sure that if the government has something positive to say about controlling abuse, it would have called a press conference and said it. But it’s been a long time since we heard that anything concrete has been achieved in the fight against abuse.

During his budget address in reply to Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said that society should take care of the innocent victims who are not to blame for their situation. Granted, but should society not then be compensated by those who, through their irresponsible behaviour, are an extra burden to the social security system?

I do not believe that the government is doing enough to curtail the abuse. Any effort that has been made in the past has been too sporadic and inconsistent to be effective, and it was easy for the cheats to escape detection while others joined in when they realised they, too, could make some money off other people’s backs. After all, everybody likes easy money, and the Social Security Department is turning out to be a solid provider.

There is no estimate of the cost that such abuse inflicts on society, but it can be assumed that the figure runs into thousands of euros per individual. That money could be redirected towards other projects, perhaps even to increase the per capita amount for people who really deserve such financial assistance, or for other government ideas not necessarily linked to the social security system.

The government should wake up and smell the coffee. Dr Gonzi said that people should judge a government by what it does, not by what it says. Well, on this one, the government has not done much.



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Labour exponents said that since Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi took long to nominate Malta’s European Commissioner, Malta would have got one of the least important portfolios.

Then, last Friday, Mr Dalli was given responsibility for health and consumer policy – which is one of the largest and most important portfolios.

Labour very much reminds me of Wile E. Coyote, never managing to catch the Road Runner despite all his plans and preparations.

Like Wile E. Coyote’s gadgets, Labour’s moves always backfire.



scalleja@independent.com.mt