The government took a step in the right direction by instituting a 15 to 20 per cent cutback in spending in ministries and other government bodies, but without decreasing payroll and investment outlays. Perhaps this measure will reduce the sense of provocation that people feel and that is fuelled by talk and images of ministerial motorcades and the elegant cars ministers ride in. It is a good step, but it would be better if it were accompanied by more serious action towards investigating corruption and fighting the ways that public moneys are squandered in some government institutions. Perhaps it would be useful, in this regard, to give closer consideration to the speaker of parliament's suggestion regarding the need to incorporate all the special funds that exist in the ministries and other governmental bodies into the national budget. I wonder whether the House of Representatives will take this matter seriously or whether it will treat it as a kind of slip of the speaker's tongue. It is extremely important for the government to make the people sense that it is taking action against corruption. The government is trying to convince the people to accept the stiff austerity measures that are being taken in order to reduce the budget deficit and that have people reeling under numerous strains. Meanwhile, there is another avenue that officials should explore after having asked people to dig so deep into their pockets that their pockets are frayed. It is well known that billions of pounds accumulate in those special funds that exist in every public body. No one knows exactly how many of these funds exist and the extent to which they fund officials and other lucky ones in some public institutions. We and many others have spoken time and again of the need to look into this matter, but our advice has fallen on deaf ears. Yet, by turning off the taps to the flow of corruption in government bureaucracies, billions of pounds would become available, alleviating the strains on the average citizen. It is sufficient here to cite the information revealed by Cairo University President Gaber Gad Nassar. Cairo University now has a budgetary surplus of over a billion pounds, he said. The secret lay in shutting the corruption faucet. Imagine the amounts of money that could be generated if this were carried over to all other government bodies. People may be able to sustain the toll of rising prices, but they will not accept paying the bill for corruption. People have to work hard to bear the heavy burden they have to contend with every day due to successive rises in the prices of goods and services. But it is unreasonable for the government to ask people to tighten their belts without the government, itself, doing some hard work. Raising taxes, reducing subsidies, floating the pound do not require all that much thought or effort. The government takes decisions and then tries to convince the people to accept them. But there is one area in which the government can really demonstrate that it is hard at work: The fight against corruption. This subject should be accorded the highest priority. Successful efforts in this domain are the shortest route to persuading the people to be patient and bear with the government in the face of economic pressures that are closing in on them from all directions. However, no one can accept footing the bill for both inflation and corruption. To expect the people to do so will only drive them from patience to frustration and despair, and the well-known manifestations of despair.
