All eyes on Gamal

Gamal Mubarak takes off his gloves with a smile. Dina Ezzat watches

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The annual conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has for the past six years provided an opportunity for attention -- at times excessive -- to be focussed on the chair of the party's Policies Committee, Gamal Mubarak.

It was in 2002 that the younger son of the president, Gamal Mubarak, now an assistant secretary-general of the party, was introduced to the higher echelon of the NDP since when it is his person, rather than the policies he espouses, that has caught the attention of the media, whether independent or state run. Indeed, it sometimes seems they are all pondering a single question: is Gamal Mubarak's star rising or waning, and what does this mean for the succession scenario?

It is a question that refuses to go away however often it is recast. This year it was formulated in terms of "the name of NDP candidate for the presidential elections in 2011" and "the rumoured disapproval of the military establishment to the succession scenario".

After a few jokes and laughs at the press conference Gamal Mubarak gave his stock answer to the usual queries: Egypt has a clear constitution that stipulates the rules and regulations for the transfer of power and for presidential elections. "These rules," he said, "would be respected by all and no party, in Egypt or elsewhere, can be expected to nominate a candidate for a presidential election that is still three years away". Gamal Mubarak did not add that he sits on the 40-member party committee from which the name of the next NDP presidential candidate will come.

The NDP conference was inaugurated on Saturday and closed on Monday with two brief statements by President Hosni Mubarak. He did not dwell on his son's present status, let alone speculate about the future, beyond issuing the by now traditional statements underlining the crucial role of the younger generation in taking the party forward.

Yet talk in the corridors of the Cairo Conference Centre, and the display of photos in the press and on local TV channels, left no one in doubt that it is Gamal Mubarak that everyone is interested in.

This year the word was that, frustrated by the endless attacks to which he is subjected and by the failure of his immediate NDP entourage of businessmen to spare him from unnecessary criticism over their illicit business dealings and improper personal behaviour, he would be keeping a lower profile than usual. There was little sign of such frustration, though, in his many presentations before the NDP meetings or during the report he offered Sunday morning in his capacity as the chair of the Policies Committee, nor in the press conference he held on the afternoon of the same day, Gamal Mubarak seemed careful not to give away frustration and disappointments.

"In the party we have a committee that is in charge of calling to account any [member] whose [behaviour] is not in line with the [necessary standards]," he said during the press conference, adding that neither the party nor the government offered any opportunity for businessmen to block legal proceedings over alleged wrongdoing. "The party does not interrupt the process of justice in any way and I challenge anyone to prove otherwise."

He pointedly evaded a question addressed to him on the "possible negative impact on his political career of an entourage of not so impeccable businessmen". Nor did he make any reference to his supposedly close friend and political ally Ahmed Ezz, the steel tycoon, whom the opposition alleges has exploited his position to monopolise domestic markets, or to Hisham Talaat Mustafa, another NDP business tycoon, currently standing trial for the murder of a Lebanese pop singer.

Steering away from any associations with big business, he adopted an offensive rather than defensive policy.

"It is understandable that the NDP, as the majority party that undertakes most of the burden of serving the [interests of the nation], should come under attack and we are willing to deal with objective criticism and demonstrate the flexibility to adjust our policies accordingly," said the chair of the party's Policies Committee. He even expressed a willingness to "engage the opposition, whose presence in the political arena cannot be overlooked, in dialogue". But what is no longer acceptable, he added, is for the NDP to take unfounded criticism lying down.

On Sunday Gamal Mubarak took off his gloves, demanding that those who constantly harp on criticising the party present alternative policies of their own.

"The other endlessly criticise us -- and unfairly so -- for being insensitive to social justice. The question is, what plans does the other have to promote the high growth rates needed to secure social justice?"

In his attack on the opposition Gamal Mubarak appeared to take care not to go over the top, which certainly could not be said of some other senior party figures, Ezz included.

Criticising "those" who suggest the re-introduction of state control over the economy, he said "they want to take us back to policies that might have been good then and there but that cannot apply now". And responding to critics who accuse the NDP, and its government, of being too closely associated with the private sector, he stated simply that "yes, the NDP is the party that supports the private sector".

"The NDP supports but does not spoil the private sector and everybody works in conformity with rules of the law, the private sector [national or foreign] included," he added.

Gamal Mubarak, who must surely have read and heard enough from critics who suggest that he has no legitimacy to propose or implement policies, made subtle links between his own statements and the presidential platform on which his father was elected. He also increased the number of his references to the poor and to the role of the state, promising it would remain strong and central but would not monopolise either the economy or social services, though it would work towards upgrading and in widening the scope of the latter, especially in the area of healthcare.

The smiles, the jokes and the occasional nods Gamal Mubarak offered in almost one of this year's conference appearances did not go unnoticed. For some they were a clear attempt to counter the argument that the son of the president is too far removed from the concerns of the general public, for others they indicated a growing sense of self-confidence. And inevitably, there were those that interpreted the smiles and jokes as a way to conceal frustration at the slow and uncertain rise towards power by an ambitious politician who has never directly denied an interest in becoming the president of Egypt.