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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 9 -15 November 2000 Issue No.507
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Books Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Turning the tables
By Amira IbrahimParliamentary candidates, glad-handing their way through shanty towns in the run-up to elections, are full of ideas about how to give the poor their due. But after the votes have been cast, even as bright-coloured banners remain plastered on crumbling walls, most of these zealous promises are forgotten. Residents of Cairo's most underdeveloped districts, where providing even basic services are a platform to campaign on, have become resigned to this fact.
Perennially neglected by their representatives in parliament, their needs flicker into the public consciousness during the few months in which they hold the fate of parliamentary hopefuls in their grasp. This time around, most notably in the constituency of Al-Gamaliya, residents have decided to make the most of their window of opportunity, demanding real changes before they go to the polls.
In the run-down districts of Al-Gamaliya and Bab Al-Sha'riya, the voters' lack of confidence in the candidates is palpable. It's only a 10-minute walk through the old and crowded streets to cross from Bab Al-Sha'riya to Al-Gamaliya, but the needs and dreams of residents from both areas are even closer. Both districts share problems of soaring unemployment, lack of services and poor living conditions. Both are also considered among Cairo's oldest and most historic areas.
Although both constituencies seem motivated by their desire to show that they have been watching -- and they're not happy with what they have seen -- the flavour of the separate electoral battles being waged is different. In Bab Al-Sha'riya, voters are charged with a sense of betrayal, feeling that their needs have been both misread and misrepresented. In Al-Gamaliya, voters issued curt demands of parliamentary candidate and Minister of Housing Ibrahim Soliman: effective immediately. Essentially, they were calling his bluff.
Of the candidates vying for over 46,000 votes in Bab Al-Sha'riya, only three candidates are party nominees -- the two ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) candidates and one Wafd Party candidate. The rest are independents. Eight candidates are running for the workers' seat, but it appears the place is reserved for the incumbent NDP candidate Mohamed Abdel-Nabi, who is expected to win another term. "We call him the postman," stated an elderly resident, Sayed Amin. "He makes sure our complaints are heard by those in charge."
The fight for the professionals' seat, however, is far more heated. Among the 20 candidates, the two main contenders are incumbent Wafd candidate Ayman Nour and NDP candidate Yehia Wahdan, who is contesting the elections for the first time. Both candidates have outdone themselves with election paraphernalia, releasing copious pamphlets criticising their rival and even producing music albums, in which popular singers perform their better-known songs with the words altered in praise of the candidates. It was a new, and therefore catchy trick.
Raised in the Delta governorate of Daqahliya, Nour ran in Cairo's constituency of Bab Al-Sha'riya in 1995, when Bab Al-Sha'riya seemed an easy win. At the time, the NDP candidates were obviously weak contenders and no other political parties were represented in the district. Even the government has been said to have supported Nour over their own candidate. But Bab Al-Sha'riya is no longer such a cake walk. In addition to a distinguished family background, Nour's main rival, Wahdan, has made a respectable name for himself as a former top security official. He is well known in the community as something of a local hero, after an incident in which he uncovered two Israeli spies.
Wahdan resigned from his position when he decided he was going to enter the electoral fray and run for parliament. In the last four months, he has used his influence and close ties with local businessmen and governorate officials to provide much-needed social services to the district's inhabitants. Residents were treated to a concrete show of what Wahdan had to offer. With only limited financial resources, he has managed to admirably address the area's two main problems: unemployment and housing. It is something that voters complain Nour has failed to do in all his time in office. Wahdan, in a brief period of time, has created some 200 job opportunities and 57 iwa'a (homeless shelters). Inhabitants complain that Nour could only offer inadequate sums of money to the downtrodden.
"It is not enough to simply give money to the poor and then make them come back every month to ask for more," Wahdan told Al-Ahram Weekly. "What they need is help in finding jobs for their sons and daughters, so that they can earn a living and support their families." Wahdan is emphatic on this point. "I don't think it's the job of parliament to give money to the poor. It's the job of social affairs bodies. We should work to establish large industrial and commercial projects that will create new job opportunities."
Wahdan has promised to build a "New Bab Al-Sha'riya", an ambitious programme in which the homeless would be housed and out-of-work craftsmen and workers would be able to struggle their way out of poor conditions. It may sound like a pie in the sky, but it was inspired, and that is perhaps what Bab Al-Sha'riya's residents need most: hope.
It is also something that Nour has conspicuously lacked during his tenure. Residents repeatedly expressed their frustration that Nour had failed to help develop the area. Not long after his election in 1995, Nour announced that he was not going to beg services from the government for his constituency. But Nour has stressed that his 13 offices in the constituency -- the supposed points of liaison between Nour and the people he represents -- have been there to help those in need. "My offices have received 27,000 complaints from inhabitants over the past five years, 90 per cent of which were positively solved," Nour stated.
But residents disagree. The efforts Nour has made seem to sadly miss the point. He established a medical centre, where everyone was offered free treatment and medicine. But people say this is the last thing they needed. Even people who have the money to buy medicine and medical care were getting it free instead, and many feel that the money Nour has spent on welfare funds and the medical centre were ill-spent.
"We have several charity associations which provide similar services," commented Hag Mohamed El-Zoghby, the workers' secretary of the local council. "Nour could have used that much money to establish a factory, a company or housing projects for the poor, similar to the ones constructed by the government," El-Zoghby explained. Such talk from local civil servants sounds the death knoll for Nour's parliamentary days. Civil workers like El-Zoghby shape the trends of public opinion and based on this buzz, Nour has cause to be worried.
Over in the neighbouring constituency of Al-Gamaliya, lack of infrastructure has equally dominated the elections in this historic district. The medieval buildings of Fatimid Cairo -- pictured so prominently in history books and architectural retrospectives -- are all suffering acute damage. Overcrowded conditions, pollution, subsoil water and high humidity have all compounded the decay and when the 1992 earthquake hit, this area was hit hard. The town has a serious lack of schools and an absence of medical care services. Water supply and sewage systems have not been renovated since their construction in 1934. The PA members of Al-Gamaliya seem almost as ancient -- they have occupied the parliamentary seats for the past 17 years, with little change in living conditions.
Here, the hottest contest is for the professionals' seat. Ibrahim Soliman, minister of housing since 1993, is running against 10 other candidates. He faces tough competition from Tagammu candidate Mahmoud Zeinhom, a former PA member, and the Islamist Mohsen Kamel, an activist in the field of social service.
In Fatimid Cairo, the housing minister has reason to be proud. For two years, the government has been engaged in an ambitious development project aimed at protecting and conserving medieval monuments and upgrading living conditions. But the second district of the constituency, known as Al-Manshiya, is not so lucky. There is little to conserve in this district -- no historic monuments or valuable artefacts. Built out of desperation by homeless residents, Al-Manshiya is an eyesore next to its historic neighbour.
As Minister of Housing, Soliman launched a campaign to remove unsightly and dangerous shanty towns, he made enemies of the large population of Al-Manshiya when he dismissed the area as "outlawed" and claimed its residents should be treated as criminals. But when Soliman realised he would need the estimated 8,000 votes in Al-Manshiya, he started singing a different tune. He met with residents to hear their complaints and was issued a stiff warning from the people. He was instructed to resolve the legal question of the buildings constructed in the area by allowing inhabitants to own the houses and lands in which they live. Residents demanded the construction of a number of bridges and more basic services to the area.
It was clear how much Soliman wanted those votes. The construction of the bridges started the very next day and soon after, Al-Manshiya inhabitants were offered the right to buy their lands for LE50 per metre. The minister even managed to get cabinet approval to supply water to the district. But all these moves may ultimately cost Soliman the seat he covets so much. Residents feel like they should take their money and run -- that perhaps they've already gotten all they will get out of him. They may, instead, turn to other candidates and try and get even more.
Soliman faces a real threat from Islamist candidate Mohsen Kamel, who has used traditional and popular slogans calling for Islamic solutions to people's problems. Islamist groups, known as Da'wa groups, are extremely well organised and have been active in the area for a long time -- when governmental services were few and far between. Through their social associations, Islamists have provided medical centres, education, mosques and other free services.
Former representative Mahmoud Zeinhom still has a chance, despite his poor performance. Zeinhom, who hails from upper Egypt, is supported by tribal groups known as Al-Araba, who moved from upper Egypt's governorates of Sohag, Qina, Aswan, Luxor, Assiut and the Red Sea and settled in Al-Gamaliya.
Related stories:
See Elections 2000
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