Too many to count
The ruling elite, corruption cases and the Maadi serial killer -- the problems never end, writes Mohamed El-Sayed
So problematic and diverse were the issues this week that Osama Ayoub of the weekly Al-Osboa wrote, "Crises afflicting Egyptians are too numerous to count. Amid this mountain of problems that has befallen the country, one cannot pick any one crisis to handle.
"Egypt, which has always been known as the mother of the world, has become the mother of crises.
"Corruption, negligence, and laziness..." Ayoub said the country "was on its way to collapsing".
In the same newspaper, Rafiq Habib argued that the country was at a critical juncture. "The debate over the nature of the state and the political system, and the role of religion in the political system is in fact exposing the country to conflicts. At a time when the people's [choices] are being ignored, the ruling elite is determining the nature and the shape of the state and its political system. In this way, the elite is ignoring the [constitutional] principle stating that the nation is the source of authority."
The ruling elite "is preoccupied with establishing a political system suitable for it to stay in power forever. This system is aimed at neutralising any serious competition, especially from the side of the Islamic forces, which are the main challenger of the ruling party.
"The ruling elite is trying to use the constitution and the law in a way which will enable it to determine its opponents... we are witnessing a desperate attempt to institutionalise tyranny on the basis of the constitution and the law," Habib wrote.
The ongoing conflict between judges and Minister of Justice Mamdouh Marie made the headlines of the daily mouthpiece of the opposition party Al-Wafd. The paper quoted Marie as saying "Justice is at stake and the judges are not efficient." The shock comment was made during a session of the lower house of parliament, the Shura Council. The paper also quoted the controversial minister as saying "90 per cent of judges and heads of courts are not meeting the necessary prerequisites."
Following the fiery declarations of Marie, the Judges' Club, the unofficial syndicate of judges, demanded that he apologise for what they deemed an insult. Senior judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri wrote in Al-Masry Al-Youm, "You have transgressed your limits Marie," read the headline of the opinion piece. El-Khodeiri described the minister as "unsuitable for the post of [minister of] justice".
The successive series of hot topics perplexed columnist Magdi Mehanna of Al-Masry Al-Youm. "I am confused about what topic I should write about today. Shall I write about the repeated declarations that are tarnishing the image of judges... why does this man hate judges, despite the fact that he is one of them and is supposed to defend and serve them?
"Or shall I write about the deputy head of the People's Assembly's National Security Committee? Mohamed Abdel-Fattah released the latest political joke: the Muslim Brotherhood is behind the crimes of the Maadi serial killer. This kind of joke can only be made by someone who is a resident of a mental hospital."
According to Mustafa El-Fiqi, head of the People's Assembly Committee of Foreign Relations, who was quoted in Al-Wafd, "80 per cent of our problems are a product of mixing politics with religion and wealth."
Another problem seen by El-Fiqi was that "ordinary citizens do not care about constitutional changes because they suffer from poor sewer networks, insufficient schools and other [daily] problems."
The paper also ran a feature story about the sky rocketing prices of cement. The feature said the cement market witnesses a hike in prices every now and then. The latest hike took prices to an [unprecedented] LE360 per tonne. The paper blamed the unreasonable increase in prices on foreign hegemony over the production of this vital commodity. "Despite the fact that there is a LE7 million surplus in production, prices reached LE360 a tonne," ran the story headline.
The news about the spread of bird flu in the country made it in many columns this week. Mohamed Mustafa Sherdi of Al-Wafd could not say where the epidemic would take the country. "There have been growing concerns after the minister of health's latest announcement that the epidemic is developing."
A news item that appeared on the back page of the daily independent Nahdet Masr said marijuana addiction had mushroomed in secondary schools. The report said a teacher once entered a classroom in Dokki to find that the majority of the male students had cigarettes filled with marijuana in their pockets. He also found a vodka bottle in a student's bag. When the schoolmaster summoned the boy's father, he threatened to file a LE1 million lawsuit against the school if the headmaster went to the police.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/830/pr1.htm