The chairman of the Central Auditing Agency launches a scathing attack against the government, accusing it of ignoring the plight of the poor, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and the chairman of the Central Auditing Agency (CAA) Gawdat El-Malt clashed in the People's Assembly on Monday after El-Malt blamed Ghali's policies for the proliferation of street protests against the government. El-Malt also accused Ghali of flippancy in discussing CAA reports monitoring the economic and fiscal performance of the government. Ahead of parliamentary discussions on Monday El-Malt also clashed with Ahmed Ezz, chairman of the People's Assembly Budget Committee, after he took Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif's government to task for the increased number of Egyptians living below the poverty line. "This government has lost the confidence of the people because it does not care about poor Egyptians," said El-Malt. The stinging criticism led Ezz to rebuke El-Malt before the committee's members. "Your job is to exercise fiscal supervision not to review the economic priorities of the government," Ezz told El-Malt. Ezz's criticism of El-Malt spawned rumours that the latter had been summoned to the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) and warned not to furnish a negative picture of the economic performance of the government. "I warn you again, your role is to give a fiscal analysis of the balance sheet of the 2007/2008 budget," Ezz was alleged to have said. In his statement to the People's Assembly on Monday El-Malt denied the rumours. "Neither me nor any of my aides at the CAA went to the head office of any political party," said El-Malt. "The president of the republic spoke with me about the clash which erupted in parliament's Budget Committee. It is enough for me that my position received the support of President Mubarak." Ghali and Ezz both went on record to say they had great respect for El-Malt. Ghali, however, qualified his support: "Had the CAA chairman's statement been clear and corroborated with documents the clash in the committee could have been averted." El-Malt's statement and clash with Ezz forced Ghali to launch a counter verbal attack. "It has become an annual tradition," said Ghali. "El-Malt has become fond of launching attacks against the government and its ministers just to be the focus of newspaper headlines and television screens." Opposition MPs, however, joined forces with El-Malt, accusing Ghali of arrogance and of pursuing fiscal policies that had seen protests, strikes and sit-ins proliferate. "Ghali seems unaware that his policies have forced many citizens to take to the streets to protest against the government," claimed Gamal Zahran, an independent MP and professor of political science and economics at Suez Canal University. NDP members rallied behind Ezz and Ghali, demanding El-Malt be prevented from offering any policy review. "The law regulating your mandate states that the role of CAA reports is to give an analysis of the state's financial statements over the previous year," said NDP's parliamentary spokesman Abdel-Ahad Gamaleddin. El-Malt made it clear that his statement contained 25 criticisms of the four-year-old government's economic and fiscal performance as opposed to 21 positive points. He accused the government of turning a blind eye to rampant corruption and doing little to contain spiralling domestic debt and inflation. Government inaction, he went on, has led to "the growing gap in confidence that now separates the Nazif government from the public". "Cabinet ministers have become fond of delivering rosy statements although many of them are not serious enough to find realistic solutions for the problems facing the people." Much worse, added El-Malt, was that the behaviour of some cabinet ministers placed the government under heavy fire on the street. El-Malt said his reports about the government's performances were corroborated with documents from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Arab Monetary Fund. "CAA officials have provided parliament with 160 reports covering more than 20,000 pages detailing criticisms of government ministries and other organisations." El-Malt cited earlier World Bank criticisms suggesting that the economic benefits that should have accrued from an unprecedented growth rate of 7.2 per cent have yet to be felt by the millions of poor Egyptians. "The World Bank," he continued, "concluded that the policies of the Nazif government had brought the number of Egyptians living under the poverty line to 18 per cent of the population, with 40 per cent of this number living in Upper Egypt." In the face of the global financial crisis the CAA urged the government to adjust its policies to support the poor. "You have to contain the anger of these classes because they constitute the majority of Egyptians," argued El-Malt. Nazif's government was also taken to task for the increase in the budget deficit from LE62 billion in FY 2006/ 07 to LE70 billion in 2007/08, for a burgeoning trade deficit which climbed from $16.3 to $23.4 billion over the same period, and for the ballooning of domestic debts to LE666.9 billion, or 74.4 per cent of GDP. El-Malt also criticised the rise in inflation from 4.2 per cent in 2005/06 to 11.7 per cent in 2007/08 noting that the increase "made it very hard for most Egyptians to meet their daily needs". El-Malt also criticised government attempts to improve the investment climate, complaining that red tape was still the hallmark of the state's administrative performance. He also blamed the government for allocating meagre amounts of money to health and education, for the misuse of foreign grants and funds and for creating fertile ground for corruption in municipal councils. On the plus side the CAA chairman noted growth rates of 7.2 per cent in 2007/08 and surplus of $5.4 billion in the balance of payments for the same year. The flow of direct foreign investments rose to $13.2 billion in 2007/08 while the government was able to keep foreign debts at safe levels ($33.9 billion). El-Malt also praised the government for amending many old laws, for extending health insurance to cover 41 million Egyptians (or 55 per cent of the population), and for boosting subsidy allocations from LE10.3 billion in 2004 to LE84.2 billion in 2008.
