Trailer owners have put on hold their strike after promises from the government to meet their demands, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky In December 2005, the newly elected -- albeit for a fifth term -- President Hosni Mubarak addressed the combined houses of parliament and promised commitment for socio- economic and political reforms. Five years later, Mubarak addressed a new parliament to renew the promise, except this time he is still to run and be elected. On Sunday, 19 December, Mubarak spoke of "a new beginning" -- as he did on 20 December five years ago. "Egypt is standing on the threshold of a new era," Mubarak said in 2005. And earlier this week he reiterated, "We are pursuing a fresh start towards the future." In both addresses Mubarak announced his commitment to staying the course: modernisation of society, inter-faith tolerance, moderation, and an annual economic growth of six per cent with a subsequent reduction in the level of unemployment and the wider expansion of private enterprises away from direct and central state administration. More gender sensitivity, better quality of education and the accommodation of the economically unprivileged provided the headlines for Mubarak's speech as the newly re-elected president in 2005. They could also form his platform ahead of the next presidential elections scheduled for the autumn of 2011, with Mubarak as the presidential candidate on behalf of the ruling National Democratic Party, according to the party's educated guess. Both in 2005 and 2010, Mubarak acknowledged the heavy legislative load ahead of the newly elected parliament, except that in 2005 over one-fifth of the Upper House seats were secured by the opposition while in 2010 only a handful of the house seats escaped the otherwise tight control of the ruling party. Some issues, however, drew more attention in 2005 than they did this year, especially the human rights file that had originally comprised a good part of the 2005 presidential platform when Mubarak promised in the summer of that year to work towards ending the state of emergency in place since he took office in the wake of the assassination of former president Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. The emergency law was not mentioned in Mubarak's speech this week. This year, there were new issues -- including some good news like the determined state scheme to launch the construction of four nuclear power plants on the north-coast site of Al-Dabaa that some had speculated would be allocated to mega tourism projects promoted by a group of businessmen with close association to the leading figures of the NDP. "Do not listen to rumours. It is strictly upon the public interest that I base my decision," Mubarak said. Also a new item on the agenda of the 2010 speech were state plans to better state-owned assets in the wake of several corruption stories over the past five years. In 2005 and 2010, Mubarak affirmed the traditional foreign policy precepts: commitment to promote Middle East peace and good neighbourly relations. This year there was new reference to relations with the Nile Basin countries in view of the recent tension over the distribution of Nile water resources. Then as now, Mubarak said -- as he has been saying since day one in office -- what counts for him is that both government and parliament work to serve the best interests of the citizens. And then and now, Mubarak acknowledged the negative side to the parliamentary elections and insisted that when all is said and done, MPs sitting "in this historic building that was inaugurated in 1924" should work together "majority and opposition" to help Egypt move forward. Mubarak seems to be sending a message to all concerned that he is fully in charge and that he is staying the course -- past and present.
