Ramallah – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) stressed that all government bodies need to comply with the Council of Ministers’ Decision No. 136, which provides that the Unified Portal for Social Assistance will be used as a channel for the distribution of all social assistance.
This statement was made in a letter AMAN sent to His Excellency Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh, Prime Minister. According to AMAN’s monitoring, security agencies distributed food parcels and hosted Ramadan Iftar events for the poor, orphans and the needy across Palestinian governorates. In its letter, AMAN emphasised that the distribution of donations and parcels was neither a responsibility nor a duty of security agencies. These activities should not be established as a separate item in their budgets.
AMAN expressed concern that these events might undermine efforts carried out over the years towards consolidating the channels of social assistance. These channels are designed to resolve the problem of duplicate assistance delivered to some beneficiaries and avoid jeopardising the principle of equal opportunities.
AMAN makes these calls for the third year in a row. Over the past two years, AMAN highlighted that some security agencies took the initiative to distribute grants and donations, violating the law as well as their respective responsibilities and duties. AMAN called the Council of Ministers to take necessary measures and ensure that all government bodies and security agencies comply with the Council of Ministers’ decision on adoption of the Unified Portal for Social Assistances.
