The NDP's first annual conference begins tomorrow. Gamal Essam El-Din examines the thorny political and economic issues the ruling party plans to tackle The ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) first annual conference has adopted "New Thinking and Rights of Citizens First", as its slogan. A total of 2,200 NDP members will be attending the three- day affair, which runs from 26-28 September. NDP Chairman President Hosni Mubarak will open the conference on Friday, and is also expected to deliver a speech as the conference closes, discussing domestic and international political developments as well as economic policies. The conference's first day will also feature speeches by other NDP leaders. Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif will speak on the party's achievements in 2003, and its goals for 2004. Assistant Secretary-General and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli, and Secretary for Financial and Administrative Affairs Zakaria Azmi will also be delivering reports on the party's organisational affairs as well as its current 2003 balance sheet, and budget for 2004. Gamal Mubarak, the 39-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's influential Policy Secretariat, will also address the party's first session on the performance of the NDP's 12 secretariats and the coordination that has been taking place between the party and the government. The first day will also include -- albeit on the conference's sidelines -- an open dialogue between NDP officials and leading representatives of civil society. Political analysts were divided regarding the party's performance over the past year. NDP heavyweight Kamal El-Shazli argued that the ruling party had taken highly significant moves towards greater democratisation and civil liberties. "Foremost among these are the political reform initiatives which led to the revoking of the state security courts law, the abolishing of the penal code's hard labour penalty, and the setting up of a National Commission on Human Rights," said El-Shazli, who also declared that amending the constitution was not on the NDP's agenda of political reforms. "First of all, it forms the legal and constitutional skeleton of the state," said El-Shazli, "and therefore must be immune to changes every now and then. Secondly, a great deal of reform can take place without that kind of amendment." Gamal Mubarak El-Sherif Zakaria Azmi El-Beltagui El-Shazli Opposition and independent MPs, meanwhile, disagreed. Hussein Abdel-Razeq, chairman of the leftist Tagammu's political secretariat, described the NDP reforms as "cosmetic". According to Abdel-Razeq, the NDP refuses to consider any kind of political reform that may undermine its monopoly over the nation's political life. In fact, Abdel- Razeq said, "the party continues to resort to notoriously old-fashioned methods such as muzzling parliamentary freedoms and rigging elections." Abdel-Razeq also cited the NDP's support for an extension of the Emergency Law for a further three years as an indication of its non-democratic intentions. Corruption was also a major problem, said Abdel- Razeq, who cited the recent conviction on corruption charges of NDP's former Chairman of Parliament's Economic Affairs Committee Abdallah Tayel, and two of its Fayoum MPs. Cairo University Law Professor Atef El-Banna, meanwhile, had a suggestion for an alternate party slogan -- "Change and nothing but change." El- Banna said that, "Egypt is desperately in need of a package of radical, across the board, change." El- Banna, however, was not optimistic about the NDP's intentions in this respect. Tourism Minister Mamdouh El-Beltagui, who is the chairman of the NDP's information committee, said the NDP was keenly aware of the greater calls for democratisation and political reform at both the local and international levels. "The NDP, however, believes that complete political reform must come in doses, be balanced by the nation's economic requirements, and take Egypt's supreme national interests into account," El-Beltagui said. As part of this dynamic, El-Beltagui said the NDP planned to begin a dialogue with political parties, reinforcing the role of civil society associations, and more actively promoting civil liberties and human rights. What much of the back and forth makes clear is the NDP's search for a clearer ideology and platform. Addressing the American University in Cairo (AUC) last May, Gamal Mubarak spoke of a dramatic shift in the party's ideology. The party was being transformed, he said, from one that practiced a politics of populism to one that based its decisions more on pragmatism. Gamal Mubarak cited the flotation of the Egyptian pound, the freeing of agricultural rents and normalising relations with Israel as examples of pragmatic rather than populist policies. As Gamal Mubarak's words, however, triggered a fiery reaction from opposition parties, other NDP leaders rushed to reinforce the party's image as "populist" rather than "pragmatic". El-Sherif described the NDP as being "populist" since it places the public's interests at the forefront of its policies and activities. At the same time, El-Sherif did admit that some of the party's decisions over the last year did seem more pragmatic than populist, especially the floatation of the pound. On this note, El-Sherif said, "the NDP is seeking to balance popular and national interests and aspirations. Some times," he said, "we refrain from using painkillers or short- term solutions in order to pursue long-term national interests." El-Sayed Yassin, a prominent analyst with the Al- Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, lauded Gamal Mubarak's attempt at shifting the party towards a more pragmatic ideology. Yassin called it "a new dynamic style of thinking that can finally relieve Egypt of late President Abdel- Nasser's populist policies which resulted in many a national disaster on both the domestic and international front." One of the most controversial matters the conference plans to address, meanwhile, is the relationship between the NDP and the government. Rifaat El-Said, secretary-general of the leftist Tagammu Party, said that when the NDP -- at its last congress -- came up with the motto, "the government is the party's government, and not vice- versa," the de facto result of which was a limitation of the government's ability to achieve its political and economic objectives. Along these same lines, other opposition MPs have been demanding Prime Minister Atef Ebeid's resignation, saying he has tottered from crisis to crisis since taking over the post in October 1999. NDP insiders told Al-Ahram Weekly that although the government was committed to adopting NDP policies, they agreed that the implementation of these policies had by no means been favourable. "Take, for example, the implementation of the decision to float the pound," said an NDP insider who asked not to be identified. "The NDP made the decision but the government did not implement it properly because they failed to take enough precautions to counter its negative impact on ordinary citizens," Upon his return from a visit to Italy and France last week, President Mubarak held two meetings with cabinet ministers to prioritise more budgetary allocations in favour of stabilising prices of basic food goods. As rumours emerged that a new a cabinet reshuffle was being planned, Mubarak said, on 21 September, that, "the government is doing its best to find a solution to the problems, but the real problem is population growth." Ebeid will deliver a speech on the conference's final day, outlining his government's commitment to NDP-inspired economic reforms aimed at boosting exports, moving the privatisation programme forward, and undertaking another package of customs and tax reforms. The prime minister's speech, NDP insiders said, will be a crucial moment in the life of his government.
