Sawt Beirut International has raised the voice last week, after the Director General Ministry of Social Affairs Ahmed Al-Abdullah threatened and intimidated around 550 social investigators who signed contracts with the ministry, when they refused to return to work because they did not receive their salaries.

Al-Abdullah implemented his threat and brought the private sector to work on the ground although there are 550 social investigators who spent 11 years serving the Ministry, and despite the letter signed by the investigators directed to Al-Abdullah to look into their conditions. But apparently the fresh dollars paid by the World Food Organization (WFP) tempted the Director General to bring private companies, specifically Mohsen Al-Moussawi Company and the International Information Company owned by the husband of former Defense Minister Zeina Aker, according to an audio obtained by SBI.

But the surprising thing is that the demands of the social investigators are right, as SBI obtained a copy of their contract with the ministry and clearly notes the need to pay the transportation allowance to them. Despite the approval of the Director General on this allowance previously, it was not paid for two years. He also refused to let them benefit from the National Social Security Fund.

In details, the private companies will get $5 for each application. In return, they pay $2 for each social investigator affiliated with them, in addition to a transportation allowance, while the ministry’s social investigators were paid $2 while bearing the cost of transportation allowance.

Favoritism and quotas have returned from the wide door, and matters need the intervention of the Prime Minister to stop this step, which will certainly affect the course of negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, which calls for transparency.