Analyze this

Here’s a question: Where was Dr. Ahmed Okasha last month when he was most needed? (See box above.) As the nation prepared to vote on the amendment of Article 76 of the constitution, which would open the door to the first free presidential elections in the nation’s history, the opposition waged war against it. That’s their right, but isn’t it a bit crazy to rally people to give up their right to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’?

Three opposition parties, Al-Nasseri, Al-Tajammou and Al-Wafd, called for a national boycott of the May 25 referendum. A boycott of what? Of having to express one’s opinion about a flawed question, was their logic. The parties raised concerns about how to ensure the objectivity of the referendum, chanting that peoples’ ‘no’ would be ignored. Assurances that judges would supervise the process weren’t soothing enough.

In fact, Dr. Refaat El-Saeed, the head of Al-Tajammou party, was angry enough to file a lawsuit pleading with the nation’s courts to stop the referendum in the first place.

“This is a lousy manipulation of one’s right to recourse before the courts,” said Judge Abdel Reehem Nafie, head of the PA’s legislative committee. Nafie frowned at the concerns many have raised about the objectivity of the referendum monitoring committee, noting that the issue had been studied and talked about to death and that procedures had already been taken.

“The people have the last word on the amendment of Article 76, and lawsuits can’t stop the referendum, or the amendment it’s peoples’ votes that will or will not. It’s time that the opposition parties stop feeding the public false impressions and instead herald the political reform process instead of pushing it backward,” Nafie concluded.

Silvia Dogliani Grounded: Air traffic controllers on strike again.

Sue him for that! Why do we have the feeling that one day opposition parties will be suing citizens for their poor political choices including not voting for them, naturally.

Perhaps the FUTURE will even see opposition parties suing one another, too. Nasserite MP Heider Baghdady automatically became the black sheep of the family last month when he embarrassed his party by publicly endorsing the amendment of Article 76 during the PA’s ‘historic session,’ stating that his conscience dictated his stance.

“Your conscience?! Or the NDP, you slimy agent!” voices rose from the back benches of the Peoples’ Assembly. The loudest didn’t even come from the party. In a nationally televised session, MPs Hamadein Sabahy and Abdel Azeem Maghraby shredded Baghahy for being disloyal. Immediately, both announced that the head of the Nasserite party, Diaa El-Din Dawoud, had decreed that Baghdady was to be expelled from the party.

Adopting an attitude of supreme nonchalance, Baghdady rose to his own defense. “I’m an MP and I represent the ummah, which is bigger than any party. My sense of responsibility required me to approve of the amendment, especially given that the people whom I represent are supporting it. In fact, I wished that the conditions for nominating oneself for presidency were far stricter. Those who moan about how tough these requirements are should visit France, where one is required to get the signatures of 200 MPs from 30 districts, or the US, where you’ve to get 28,000 signatures. Why are the parties that are already exempted from these regulations screaming and shouting?” he exclaimed.

Associated Press (2) Referendum propaganda

Baghdady promptly announced he would sue the Nasserist Party and its leadership and, even better, that he would soon lobby to establish another Nasserite party that would target younger elements who aren’t interested in joining the existing one brushing off the claim of being an NDP agent.

With all due respect, Sir, does the nation really need another Nasserist Party? Maybe the NDP would, if only to see the two Nasserites busy attacking one another and leaving them and the world in peace.

On the other side of the fence, the NDP’s Dr. Osama Harb, a presidentially appointed member of the Shura Council, followed Baghdady’s initiative, but this time voting against the amendment and causing more than a frown or two among the majority party.

We wouldn’t BE surprised if Dr. Ahmed Shafeek, the minister of civil aviation, asked Dr. Okasha to come pay his air traffic controllers a visit.

Associated Press Photo Nim NIM SAYS HI: On her a visit to Egypt last month, First Lady Laura Bush praised President Hosni Mubarak’s plan to hold direct presidential elections as a bold step. Pictured: First ladies Suzanne Mubarak and Laura Bush are greeted by Nim Nim, an Iftah ya Semsem character.

After all, their irresponsible behavior caused the National Air Navigation Services Company $31 million in losses over 10 days last month. After we thought the dust had settled after the first strike in April, the air traffic controllers took to the picket lines once again. This time, they protested the chairman’s decision to fire three of their colleagues, demanding that they be allowed to return to work and, of course, for the pay and bonus hikes they wanted in the first place.

Shafeek isn’t a man to have his arm twisted, it seems, stressing that there’s no changing his mind or word, especially after the three men, allegedly the ringleaders of the first labor action, helped the company lose cash due to delayed flights and cancelled trips in April.

Taking a page out of US President Ronald Reagan’s book, Shafeek warned that his ministry was studying the need to recruit new air traffic controllers even if it has to resort to foreign hires as a last option in order to preserve Egypt’s image. He added that the ministry is already running advertisements seeking new controllers from a range of university faculties and said both sexes can be eligible candidates.

Training sessions would be organized this month.

Do we see anyone trembling here? It doesn’t seem so. In fact, the grumbling air traffic controllers reminded the minister that basic training for a controller takes 36 months and for the trained candidate to gain experience in dealing with airplanes, he needs between five and ten years all while still groaning that the pay hike they recently received didn’t exceed 10 percent.

That’s certainly not going to cover Dr. Okasha’s bills.

It’s not JUST underpaid airport workers protesting: Last month, a rift appeared among the members of the Egyptian Judges’ Club as young judges called for the boycott of judicial supervision of any elections until judges are promised full oversight of the process from beginning to end without any intervention in any form from the executive branch of government. Other judges argued that their role should be confined to presenting constructive ideas on how to best supervise elections without interfering in other authorities’ work.

After a tug-of-war, the judges announced they would in fact be supervising last month’s referendum. However, Judge Zakaria Abdel Aziz, the head of the Judges Club, announced that the club’s general secretary had delayed their decision to supervise the presidential and parliamentarian elections announcing that they wouldn’t give their approval until the law on the exercise of political rights is passed and meets certain conditions the club has asked the Ministry of Justice to meet.

It’s worth mentioning that the judges are calling for financial independence and increased pay, just like the legislative authority, and are demanding that the Supreme Judicial Council be given full oversight of the appointment and disciplining of judges as well as of future elections and referenda.

They rejected the Ministry of Justice’s first draft law, which denied them these two conditions; The draft has since been referred to the Supreme Judicial Council for a final review.

If justice is for all, then it better start with those who deliver it in the first place.

Journalists may NOT be the best people to preach about the accuracy of figures, but still, give us a break: Last month, the Ministry of Environment issued a report stating that some of the statistics in a World Bank report about the state of the environment in Egypt were utterly inaccurate.

The report, the ministry claims, states that Nile pollution contributes to the death of more than 17,000 children a year and results in productivity losses that range from 25 to 35 percent per feddan. The ministry noted that there’s no information or sufficient data on the rate of losses due to pollution and, moreover, that there is no database about child mortality or the reasons behind it.

See, lack of information isn’t always a bad thing.

Last month, the PA’s human rights committee pled with the Gulf states to eliminate the need for Egyptian laborers to have sponsors a pre-requisite for issuing a work visa.

Many Arab employers have exploited the system to their own advantage and some have stripped workers of their rights or denied them the chance to get another sponsor. et