I Malta, there is a trend that when a person or a group feels aggravated by unwarranted comments and tries to defend one’s interest one is accused of being disrespectful towards the authorities concerned. This happened in the current issue about the service pension.

From the onset, as president of the Alliance of Pensioners Associations and on behalf of its members, I would like to assure the chairman and all the members of the Pension Strategy Group that we had no intention of being disrespectful towards them. However, we are human beings and we reacted to the unfair and biased stand they took on this very hot issue, which had been dragging on for the last 35 years.

The APA has already made its point on the service pension (Times of Malta, July 6) and there is no further need to repeat the facts as seen from our own perspective.

Now we have the views of the PSG chairman (Times of Malta, July 18) with regard to the service pension and the thousands of pensioners who are entitled to this type of pension from various sources are in a better position to assess and decide who is trying to safeguard their interest in this particular issue.

Those who receive a service pension are now in a better position to decide who is trying to safeguard their interests

Having said that, the APA is of the considered opinion that the table produced by Musù about pension entitlement should be updated. Along with the three scales mentioned in the table, there should also be an example of the salaries and pension entitlement of our elite members who are also entitled to a service pension and receive regular increases in their rate of service pension.

It should be pointed out that this is not the case with those entitled to a service pension and fall in scales 1-20 in the civil service. What about equal treatment in this particular area?

In the opening paragraph of his contribution, the PSG chairman stated that it is unfortunate that the APA, which should protect the interest of all pensioners, focused its assessment of the proposed pension strategy on one issue: service pension.

He also stated that the APA is misleading its members and the readers of the Times of Malta. The APA feels this statement is not only disrespectful but thinks its purpose is to tarnish the integrity and good reputation of the APA’s members. Moreover, it can also be considered as an attack on the credibility of this voluntary organisation, which looks after the interest of pensioners.

To prove the above, the APA is in possession of documents, and these are also at the disposal of the PSG, showing that, from the very beginning, the association’s four priorities about present pensioners were the following:

the guaranteed national minimum pension to address the risk of poverty problem among the elderly;

the maximum pensionable income to safeguard the interest of people with a maximum rate of pension;

proper indexation of pensions in order to control the erosion of the purchasing power of pensioners;

service pension was a problem created by the 1979 administration on the introduction of the two/thirds pension scheme.

The above declaration is the truth. Any attempts to manipulate these facts are totally futile and will burst in the face of those alleging that the APA is misleading its members and readers of the Times of Malta.

Carmel Mallia is president of the Alliance of Pensioners.

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