Troubled social security

Nehmat Frem proposes strategy towards ideal Social Security services

July 7, 2011- The president of the Association of Lebanese Industrialists addressed the defects marring social security services in the country and cited a number of proposals to rehabilitate the National Social Security Fund. The NSSF should be submitted to further control by central inspection bodies, Nehmat Frem wrote in an article published by An-Nahar on July 5.

According to Frem, the duty of boosting social security services should be shouldered by both the government and the private sector. The government should set a clear management structure for the NSSF so as to resolve the overlap of prerogatives among the different departments. This requires adopting modern standards for managing human resources and tackling the high average age of employees, he wrote.

Frem called for computerizing NSSF procedures to avoid common oversights often resulting from the loss of documents.

Turning to the financial management of the fund, Frem highlighted the need to cover the NSSF’s budget deficit and pay outstanding liabilities, as well as halt all sorts of arbitrary spending.