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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 6 - 12 May 1999 Issue No. 428
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Special Focus Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Local government purged
By Shaden ShehabPrime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri appointed 78 new municipal officials on Monday. Of these, 10 are secretary-generals, five assistant secretary-generals, 13 municipal directors of districts, 38 municipal directors of provincial districts and 12 municipal directors of towns. El-Ganzouri also said that new appointments will be announced next week to fill the posts of deputy municipal directors, secretaries of towns, municipal directors of villages and directors of services in the provinces.
El-Ganzouri said that the terms of the posts will be for one year only. During this time officials' performance and efficiency will be evaluated. Whether they will be allowed to stay in their posts will depend on their evaluations.
El-Ganzouri said that "the decision is in harmony with President Mubarak's directives to remove the obstacles in the way of giant projects and attract foreign investment." He said that Mubarak is eager to enable Egypt to cope with international economic changes. As such, El-Ganzouri said, the role of local administration is essential in ensuring a suitable environment for investment. He urged the new municipal officials to step up their performance and take the right decisions.
Mustafa El-Sayed, professor of political science at Cairo University, said, "Although the changes are overdue, because there were many reports of corruption in local administration, El-Ganzouri's decision is courageous and wise as he took the initiative in ridding local administration of corrupt officials." He added that the "purge of local administration bodies was accompanied by an attempt to draft a law to block the loopholes that made the corruption possible."
However, he said, these should be considered as initial steps. "The right approach should not be confined to administrative measures alone; local administration bodies should be made accountable," El-Sayed argued. "Although the election law for local councils has been changed, the heavy-handed methods used by local administration authorities in the last elections for local councils, either led to the triumph of National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates or limited the chances of opposition parties and independent candidates," he explained. "Therefore, the real reform of local administration is conditional upon allowing free and fair elections."
El-Sayed added that "reform would also require giving the elected councils the right to censure local administration officials". He explained that at present "such bodies do not have the right to question these officials or dismiss them from office".
However, Abdel-Fattah El-Dali, head of the local administration committee of the People's Assembly, said that the initiative was positive although he described the new appointments as "a disappointment". He explained that "many unqualified persons, who had performed badly, were promoted and people known for their good performance were demoted". He added that "it is very strange that the evaluation and changes are not reasonable because the changes were not made hurriedly, but were the subject of study for many months."
