16 - 22 May 2002
Issue No.586
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 16 - 22 May 2002 Issue No.586 |
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Names on the wall
Businessmen and professionals are not very happy about a recently-launched Cairo governorate campaign to remove name-plates from the façades of the city's buildings. Mona El-Nahhas reports
Many of Cairo's buildings are crowded with the name-plates of the doctors, lawyers and businessmen whose offices are inside. That may not be the case for long, now that a 1998 decree issued by Cairo governor Abdel-Rehim Shehata seems to have finally reached its fully- fledged implementation stage.
The decree only allows nameplates to be posted at the entrances of buildings, with an aim "to beautify Cairo and maintain the capital's civilised look," as an official at Cairo governorate told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Since the beginning of April, huge cranes from the Cairo governorate have been working on removing the name- plates from buildings' façades, much to the chagrin of the professionals and businessmen who have become accustomed to placing plaques with their names and specialisation outside the windows and/or balconies of their offices, without having to obtain an official licence to do so.
The governorate's campaign aims to cover every corner of Cairo.
According to Major General Ahmed Helmi, head of the Western Cairo district which includes Tahrir Square, Zamalek, Garden City and downtown, the governor's decree "has been carried out since 1998, but on a very slow scale. In a recent meeting with the governor, the heads of Cairo districts were ordered to give a [stronger] push to the decree."
Those business owners affected by the recent step-up in the decree's implementation were critical of what they called the "barbarian" way it was being done. They argued that they should have been informed before the campaign began. For their part, city officials claimed that they sent letters to the owners of the offending name-plates, with the majority of them giving their blessing to the removal effort.
Helmi denied that the governorate used force while removing the name- plates, since 80 per cent of those who had their signs removed, he said, responded positively to the governor's decree. Helmi indicated that work on removing the signs has ended around both Tahrir and Abdel-Moneim Riad Squares, after which all the buildings were painted a light yellow.
According to Major General Said Mikhail, head of the Northern Cairo district covering the areas of Road Al- Farag, Al-Sahil and Shoubra, "the campaign was necessary to put an end to the thousands of signs causing visual pollution in the city. One would be hard-pressed to find any other country," he said, "with such copious amounts of name-plates crowding building façades."
Lawyer Ahmed Ouda, a member of the Supreme Authority of the Wafd Party, has filed a lawsuit with the Administrative Court contesting the decree and demanding an immediate end to its implementation. "I am sure I will win the case. The law and the constitution protects private property," Ouda said. His name-plate, hanging proudly on the outside of a Shoubra building since the 1960s, was recently removed as part of the campaign.
"The law allows the occupant of an apartment, whether it's owned or rented, every right to use both the inside and outside of the property," Ouda said. "This right is untouchable. The governor has no authority to prevent people from posting name-plates on the outside walls of their flats," he said, adding with sarcasm that "one day, the governor may stop people from sitting and chatting in their balconies" as well.
Most of those affected by the decree are lawyers, doctors, accountants and similar professionals. Doctors Syndicate Chairman Hamdi El-Sayed has held extensive meetings with Cairo governorate officials in the hope of convincing them to reconsider the decree.
"Before carrying out such a barbarian campaign," El-Sayed told the Weekly, "the governor should have met professionals and discussed it with them, since it harms their interests. The governor is responsible for protecting the rights and interests of all citizens, including professionals."
Civil engineer Hoda Labib is also opposed to the idea, describing it as "arbitrary and void." Labib feels that "there are many things in Cairo other than name-plates that require more urgent action. If they are serious about beautifying the capital, they should start with the heaps of garbage, the streets which need pavements, and the drainage sewers that are usually left open."
According to Labib, it should be rather easy for Ouda to win his lawsuit on the grounds that the decree constitutes a misuse of authority. "Nameplates are the only available means for professionals and businessmen to advertise their services. Without them," asked Labib, "how would people know the whereabouts of doctors, lawyers, and engineers?"
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