Devolving decision-making

Working papers on democracy and education were central to the debates at the NDP conference. But what did they say, asks Mohamed El-Sayaed

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The NDP conference working papers about citizenship and democracy focussed on electoral rights: renewing voters lists, increasing the number of voting stations and underlining the importance of electoral supervision by civil society. "The Egyptian government will withdraw its reservations about international [human rights] agreements and conventions it has signed," said Moufid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on Monday during a discussion session attended by Secretary-General of the NDP's Media Committee Alieddin Hilal, head of the Indoctrination Committee Mohamed Kamal, and moderated by the head of Organisational, Financial and Administrative Affairs Committee Zakaria Azmi. "Egypt's membership of the International Council of Human Rights, to which it has belonged since 2007, testifies to the fact that we are taking tangible steps towards improving human rights," Shehab added.

Shehab then enumerated the government's achievements in this direction, including abolishing the Supreme State Security Court, cancelling life sentences with hard labour and introducing amendments to the law of political rights.

Party leaders argued that decentralisation was the key to enhancing democracy. The local administration law, expected to be referred to parliament in 2010, is the central plank of this new policy. "For the first time, LE2.1 billion has been allocated to be spent by municipal councils on development projects," said Minister of Local Development Mohamed Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub.

Given the avowed emphasis on democratisation, human rights activists and observers were perturbed by what they said was a lack of real substance in the citizenship papers. A delegation of Coptic activists, headed by Naguib Gabriel, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights, and Nabil Abdel-Malik, head of the Canadian-Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, called for a unified law for places of worship to be discussed in the hope it would end clashes between Muslims and Christians over the repair and building of churches. The delegation also called for a "suitable" representation of Copts in parliament.

"On a theoretical level, the citizenship document presented by the NDP was well formulated," Sameh Fawzi, a researcher specialised in citizenship rights, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "But the document lacked suggestions about draft laws, policies and administrative procedures that could secure the realisation of citizenship rights on the ground." Among the most significant omissions, he argued, was the absence of any mention of a freedom of information law, anti-discriminatory legislation or electoral regulations capable of ensuring more equitable representation.

"We are still studying the unified places of worship law," Hossam Badrawi, head of the NDP's Education Committee and member of the National Council for Human Rights, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "It has been delayed to allow more time to study the way discrimination operates in practice."

Badrawi argued that if the law was passed without thorough study "it could lead to more discrimination, given that decisions about building places of worship would be left to local communities".

Pressure within the party is growing for a freedom of information law, Badrawi continued. The problem, he said, was that "the mindset prevailing in government circles is defensive."

"We need first to inculcate a culture of giving information among institutions. People are not used to providing information."

He revealed that the government had furnished a list of opt out clauses as the law was being produced, areas that would be exempt from its regulations. "We decided to pause and examine similar laws as they are applied in other countries. We still need a year before the law can see the light of day."

The session devoted to education focussed on separating the provision of educational services from their evaluation. Papers also tackled the decentralisation of education management, assessing the results of the pilot schemes already in place in three governorates. NDP leaders also revealed changes to the secondary school certificate and university enrolment system.

Plans aimed at increasing the education budget to six per cent of GDP and devolving responsibility for education to local councils were also announced. But experts were disappointed that any discussion of the syllabus was ignored.

"The party preferred to concentrate on the management of education," Badrawi said, "because we already have pilot projects in three governorates."

"Decentralising management guarantees greater community participation and empowers school managers as decision-makers. Transferring power down the line will put more pressure on the local community to participate actively. In the end it is the local community that best knows the current and future needs of schools located within their areas."

Decentralisation of education will not come cheap. The government currently allocates 3.4 per cent of GDP for education. Badrawi hopes that figure will soon increase to six per cent.

"We aim to increase the sum for at least 15 years. Legislators have to take one of two difficult decisions: they must direct sufficient [financial] support to the development of education in order to meet international standards, or keep subsidies in other areas given the limit on resources."

Badrawi offered solutions to the conundrum. "The government can increase the budget of education by gradually decreasing subsidies on basic commodities and transferring them," he said. "Or the budget increases can be furnished from other sources. But for the public to pay more they must first trust the system.