Even if only for a day
In the Egyptian press this week a tight job market was poised to accept more university graduates, while the NDP reiterated its prizing of "stability", writes Aziza Sami
The national press celebrated the increase in the acceptance of university applicants this week, bringing to mind the long-standing problems of an educational policy that continues to supply over-qualified graduates to a tight job market and has to contend with increasing pressures on the depleted resources of state universities.
The national daily Al-Ahram reported on 20 April that the Higher Council for Universities had decided to increase the number of students enrolled in universities by 8 per cent. And on 19 July, the opposition daily Al-Wafd issued by the Wafd Party pointed to the "crisis" that the universities will face when 12,000 students more than last year apply. On 14 July, Al-Wafd posed the question of "why has the government failed to keep its promises to appoint university graduates", writing that some 150,000 "graduates", some of whom finished university over a decade ago, were still waiting for promises made by the government last June, that it would start appointing them to government positions this July, to be made good.
Al-Wafd cited a parliamentary report criticising a previous initiative by the government to "employ graduates", saying that it had been ambiguous and bureaucratic about the pre-requisites graduates would need to apply for a "government job". Some 15,000 applicants had been dismissed as "not eligible", wrote Al-Wafd, on the pretext that they had once been employed in the private sector, "even", the paper wrote, "if only for one day".
Between the lines, as usual, the national press published news items indicating an intention to "liberalise" the price of railway tickets. Al-Ahram's front page on 14 July reported the "cancellation of second and third class in trains at the end of the year", another way of saying that tickets would become more expensive to suit the "upgrading" that the Railway Authority would be undertaking in cooperation with Semaf, a private company. For its part, Al-Akhbar on 16 July reported denials by the minister of housing that water utilities would be privatised, nevertheless adding that the minister had said that the private sector would be "invited" to participate in the management, maintenance and operating of the utilities.
What in press jargon has come to be known as "the long-awaited mortgage law" featured on Al-Ahram's front page in the same issue. "Implementation of the law in the current year", wrote the daily, adding that "Minister of Housing Ibrahim Soliman has referred to directives issued by the prime minister on the necessity of finding resources that will help implement the law". The mortgage law, upon which great hopes have been pinned to resolve the chronic housing problem, is currently facing problems because of the need to devise the proper mechanisms and specialised funding institutions to provide credit to those who will be applying for mortgages. This point was also referred to in an article that appeared in the economic daily Al-Alam Al-Yom on 14 July.
The 14 July issue of the national daily Al-Akhbar contained further notable items, both domestic and foreign. The paper's banner announced that the first resolution undertaken by the new Ruling Council in Iraq had been to "consider the fall of Baghdad a national holiday", and Editor-in-Chief Galal Dowidar underscored the irony of the situation. "The new Ruling Council initiated its work by considering 9 April, the day the occupation of Iraq was completed and its existence as an independent member-state of the UN terminated, a holiday, when Iraqis will be granted an official day off work".
Speaking of hazards closer to home, Al-Akhbar also reported the death in a driving accident in Sinai of "12 young men, following the deaths the day before of 15 youths who were burnt to cinders on the 'Sai'd' [Upper Egypt] highway". The paper added that "Minister of the Interior Habib El-Adly has consequently issued a decree establishing a long-awaited entity: the National Council for Road Safety." What is arresting here is the propensity to resolve problems vicariously through "High Councils" instead of simply implementing existing and constantly violated driving regulations and speed limits.
Al-Akhbar's front page further reported "Gamal Mubarak [as saying that] popular participation is no mere slogan". Inside, the paper presented an extensive report of a speech the president's son had made in his capacity as "Chairman of the Board of the Future Generation Society" at its annual general meeting. This included statements such as, "public voluntary service is a responsibility that lies heavily on the shoulders of those who bear it", and "the people of Egypt possess all capabilities, and they have been able to attain much despite difficulties". Al-Ahram on 15 July also reported that the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Higher Council for Policies had decided to "concentrate" on "popular issues" during its upcoming first annual general meeting in September and that it would discuss the follow-up to a report presented by Gamal Mubarak, "the Party's Secretary-General for Policies".
The opposition weekly Al-Arabi, issued by the Nasserist Party, on 20 July lambasted Al-Ahram columnist Salah Montasser, main candidate in the upcoming elections for the post of head of the journalists' syndicate. "Syndicate head of normalisation and Viagra" declared the newspaper's headline. During his career, Montasser has successfully steered clear of "hot" or "ticklish" political issues, preferring instead to deal with less controversial issues like anti-smoking campaigns and pieces of anecdotal wisdom.
Al-Arabi's hostility to him might be explained by the fact that Nasserist journalist Galal Aref is Montasser's main rival in the election, in which Al- Arabi considers Montasser to be the "government candidate". The paper subsequently devoted a page to statements made by Aref, quoting him in a headline as saying that "the jailing of journalists is a shame upon Egypt".
Al-Arabi also reported a legal suit filed by lawyer Nabih Mohamed El- Wahsh at the Administrative Court contesting the constitutionality of a decree issued by President Hosni Mubarak establishing the NDP's Policies Committee headed by his son Gamal. The lawsuit argues that the NDP Policies Committee was created in a "contrived and artificial manner" and that it violates Articles 138 and 156 of the Egyptian Constitution, which stipulate, the paper said, that "the president of the republic, along with the prime minister, set the general policies of the state and oversee their execution in accordance with the laws and presidential decrees".
Al-Arabi was also careful to point out that Minister of Youth Affairs Alieddin Hilal, considered influential in NDP ranks, last week praised the newspaper's "courage" in tackling "sensitive" issues at a public meeting held at the American University in Cairo. Hilal cited Al-Arabi as an instance of how "the opposition press performs its role in criticising [the government] without limitations or obstructions" .
The status of Egypt's foreign currency reserves featured in the 14 July issue of Al-Alam Al-Yom, which quoted Central Bank of Egypt governor Mahmoud Abul-Oyoun as saying that "our foreign currency reserves are US$14.4 billion, and there can be no doubt of this". The figure, according to Abul-Oyoun, had been calculated by including the country's gold reserves, and the statement was made in response to Al-Alam Al-Yom's pointing out a discrepancy between the US$14.4 billion figure and the US$13.1 billion the paper said had been quoted by the UK magazine The Economist.
Finally, true to the spirit of the party, Secretary-General of the NDP Safwat El-Sherif and Minister of Higher Education Moufid Shehab were both quoted in the 16 July issue of Al-Ahram as telling young people at a meeting in Assiut that "the [opposition] parties' demand for modifying the constitution is a blow to stability". The parties had demanded that the constitution be amended in order to allow for a choice between candidates in presidential elections, allowing the rotation of political power.
