The ruling NDP ended its fifth conference by outlining its political and economic agenda, Gamal Essam El-Din reports The annual conference of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) ended on Monday with NDP leaders apparently having taken to heart that attack is the best means of defence, at least as far as the opposition is concerned. The tone was set on Saturday when NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif opened the conference with a scathing attack on the opposition. He told delegates "the hostile press campaigns against the party are entirely unfounded" and urged them "to make it clear to everyone who has decided that it is open season for attacks against the NDP that the public is no longer enchanted with such actions". He went on to advise opposition parties to "uphold the values of democracy and end political frivolity". On Monday El-Sherif sounded a more conciliatory note, saying the NDP remained keen on listening to the opposition. "They should know that this is not the time for exchanging accusations. We are in one boat, warding off the proponents of creative chaos and sedition." NDP Assistant Secretary-General Zakaria Azmi continued the theme, insisting that "those who attack the NDP are unaware of the scope of the party's achievements and the number of its members". The most concerted attack against opposition came from steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz, the NDP's secretary for organisational affairs. Ezz accused the opposition of attacking the NDP to distract from their own failures. "I advise opposition parties not to attack a successful party like the NDP because we are not to blame for your internal divisions," he said, arguing that "the time has come for the NDP to stand up to these parties." "The NDP is not in need of national newspapers and state media," he continued, "to lead its battle against the opposition. Its members are the best qualified people to defend their party." Ezz condemned "a number of new newspapers which came out lately to fill the vacuum and stigmatise the NDP as a party interested only in dominating political life". He also renewed attacks against the Muslim Brotherhood. "Some choose to describe the NDP as an authoritarian party. They ignore the fact that such a description best fits outlawed groups that work under the orders of a supreme guide." Ezz said on Monday that his attack against the opposition had been made in response to "a huge amount of pressure from chairmen of NDP grassroots units who wanted leading officials in Cairo to stem the flow of insults against their party". Gamal Mubarak, the 45-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee, joined the fray, deploring that "the opposition had stooped to directing personal insults at NDP leaders". It was not a level to which the ruling party would descend. "It is not in the NDP's character to launch attacks against the opposition," he said. "What we need is objective dialogue." The NDP's sudden offensive was met with counter-attacks from the opposition. The so-called "democratic coalition of opposition parties" accused the NDP of dragging more than 40 per cent of Egyptians beneath the poverty line. In a statement issued on Sunday the coalition blamed NDP policies for directing wealth and power into the hands of what it called the cabal of officials who have lost sense of social responsibility or national obligation. Opposition leaders focussed their attacks on Ezz, singling him out as an example of the billionaire businessmen who they say now control the party. "In recent months a number of NDP business tycoons have been jailed, questioned or indicted over crimes such as profiteering, abuse of power, corruption and even murder," said Essam El-Erian, a leading Muslim Brotherhood official. El-Erian claimed that public opinion was up in arms this summer when Ezz exploited his position in the NDP and parliament to block a law aimed at toughening anti-trust laws. In a press conference on Sunday Gamal Mubarak denied that businessmen join the NDP to further their commercial interests. "We have an arsenal of anti-corruption laws. The NDP has never intervened to protect members against prosecution," said Mubarak, insisting that "the party does not exist to pamper businessmen". El-Sherif also argued that the trials of NDP businessmen currently being heard in the courts prove the integrity of the party. The NDP conference concluded with the adoption of a new package of political and economic draft laws. On the political front the NDP said it was in the process of drafting laws decentralising the performance of local councils, raising the quota of parliamentary seats allocated to women and reforming elections held by professional syndicates. In an open discussion on Monday on citizenship rights and democracy, Minister of Local Administration Abdel-Salam El-Mahgoub explained that although Egypt's 1971 constitution stated that central powers should be gradually devolved in favour of local councils no steps had ever been taken in that direction. As a result, El-Mahgoub said, the NDP is now seeking to change the local administration law to devolve some ministerial powers to local councils in governorates. "The role of ministries," explained El-Mahgoub, "should be confined to implementing national development plans while local councils should be expanded to act like mini-parliaments in the provinces." Mohamed Kamal, NDP's secretary for indoctrination, argued for a stronger role for women in parliamentary life. "The number of elected women in parliament dropped from 35 in 1979 to just five in 2005," he said, defending proposals that guarantee at least two women be elected in each of Egypt's 28 governorates. Meanwhile, a senior parliamentary source told Al-Ahram Weekly that efforts are underway to review the 1993 law on professional syndicates to guarantee that their boards are elected in a democratic way. The source added that the government is considering which of as many as 25 draft laws will be referred to parliament for discussion in the session due to begin on 12 November. Topping the list is a bill aiming to expand health insurance to include housewives, farmers and seasonal workers. New laws are also being drafted to regulate audio-visual broadcasting in a bid to organise "media chaos", to amend legislation regulating the performance of private universities and better monitor financial institutions. "We want to make sure that Egypt doesn't face a credit crunch or other financial shocks," said the source adding that the government plans to pass a new law aimed at safeguarding ships against piracy. The government's agenda also covers legislation on organ transplants, positive discrimination for the handicapped, and establishing a new authority to supervise food safety.
