Minister may lose post over disability payments

Jan 09, 2009
TBT Staff in cooperation with BNS

TALLINN – Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has said that the social affairs minister may face dismissal if she is not able to successfully cope with some of the problems that have emerged in her domain.

Ansip did not rule out the possibility of dismissing Social Affairs Minister Maret Maripuu over the issue of delayed disability payments.

Maripuu had been accused by local press of lying about possible problems with the new IT solution for the benefit payment system.

The head of the government admitted that things need fixing at the Social Affairs Ministry and the problems that have cropped up indicate poor governance. In his words, any delayed benefit payment is a bad thing and both politicians and civil servants must take responsibility for this.

But Ansip also defended Maripuu, saying that in his judgment the minister has not lied about the disability payments.

"They are referring to a draft law that was sent round for endorsement in October and November 2007, regarding which the Social Affairs Ministry's IT chief said the necessary IT solution apparently will not be ready in time. But, my friends, this was nearly a year before the new system of disability benefits was introduced," Ansip told journalists.

In addition to the IT chief's commentary, the document bears a note by the ministry's secretary general who also endorsed the draft law.

"Looking at this year-old remark by the IT head that things perhaps won't get ready on time, it's really difficult to claim the minister lied. One needs to have a very good imagination for this," the premier said.

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