Gamal Mubarak, the chairman of the ruling party's influential Policies Committee, is back in action, this time promising to promote social justice, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Leading officials of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) are preparing for the party's fifth annual conference, set to take place from 1-3 November. Gamal Mubarak, the 44-year-old son of President Hosni Mubarak and chairman of the NDP's influential Policies Committee, is finalising the agenda of the conference which will prioritise social justice and measures to protect the poor from the impact of inflation. In an NDP politburo meeting held on Tuesday Gamal Mubarak emphasised that the NDP Policies Committee had already finalised the agenda of the conference on four issues: social justice, decentralisation, electoral reform and public services. Social justice is now a top priority for the NDP. Mubarak announced on 14 August the details of a two-year-old programme for improving living conditions in 1,000 poor villages. The announcement came during a landmark visit to the village of Ninna in Beni Sweif. "The programme was designed in May 2007 to improve living conditions in Egypt's poorest villages and Ninna village in Beni Sweif and other villages in the Nile Delta governorate of Sharqiya have been the first to see the fruits of the programme," said Gamal Mubarak. He indicated that villages will be provided with potable water and drainage facilities, ambulance and emergency services, primary education, housing and road development, youth and other social network activities. The 1,000 poorest villages in the NDP programme have been selected by a study prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development in cooperation with the World Bank and the UN Development Fund. The study identified four Upper Egyptian governorates (Beni Sweif, Minya, Assiut and Sohag) as including 150 of the poorest villages in Egypt. Gamal Mubarak announced that the NDP will soon make public plans for fighting poverty and that he would be paying visits to other villages. Close cooperation between the NDP and the government will provide poor villages with basic services, he said, boosting cash subsidies for young people cheap to the tune of LE25,000 per person. He further emphasised the need to maintain high economic growth rates as the only effective means to fight poverty. "The NDP's new style of thought aims at readjusting the national budget to meet social justice priorities and the greatest bulk of spending is on meeting social justice needs," he said. He added that the NDP was forging new approaches towards tackling inflation which hit 23.1 per cent last month. Gamal Mubarak and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif headed a joint NDP- government meeting on Sunday to discuss social justice and economic reform plans ahead of the NDP conference. Mubarak said the meeting included discussions on decentralisation and devolving the powers of provincial governors to local city council officials. NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif further revealed that the conference would discuss a new electoral law. A poll currently being conducted by the NDP will investigate the views of members on the best election system. While early results show most members favour retaining the current individual candidacy system, there is a possibility that this will be changed so as to ensure more women gain seats in parliament.
