Manama: A Bahraini lawmaker who has been calling for eliminating or reducing bumper pension benefits and bonuses for members of parliament and municipal council is feeling vindicated.
MP Eisa Al Kooheji has regularly pressed for amending the law that set up a pension fund and bonuses for lawmakers and municipal councillors, arguing fairness towards all beneficiaries from state pensions and the reduction of privileges for public representatives.
Under the law, public representatives were given pensions equivalent to 50 per cent of their monthly wages after serving for a four-year term. The pension becomes 80 per cent for serving two terms and 90 per cent for three or more terms.
They received the bumper pensions in addition to the pension from the state for their years of work calculated before becoming public representatives.
On Sunday, the Council of Representatives voted to cancel the 2009 law and regard public representatives as civil servants as far as pension and bonuses are concerned.
The public representatives will pay a share of their salaries to their existing state pensions and will receive a bonus of one month for every full year served in the parliament or in the municipal councils.
“I am grateful for the cancellation of the special pensions of the members of parliament. I had twice submitted motions towards such a move, but they had been deliberately shelved,” MP Al Kooheji said in a statement a short time after the lawmakers agreed to cancel the law.
Al Kooheji submitted his first motion to cancel the pension of the lawmakers in 2015, but it was sidelined.
In 2016, he caused a stir when, upon submitting his second motion, he revealed that the special pension cost the state up to BD70 million annually and warned it was increasing due to the increase in the number of lawmakers who benefited from pensions.
“It was not fair to equate four years of membership in the parliament or municipal council with 20 years of service by common citizens. It was not fair that a public representative is given in eight years the amount that is normally given in 40 years to a public servant.”
This cancellation meets the aspirations of the citizens and a fair way to deal with the challenges and requirements of the reality on the ground, he added.
“Public services should display an advanced patriotic spirit and lead the way in supporting the nation and the state budget, particularly during challenging times.
