After 13 years under judicial sequestration will the Engineers' Syndicate ever get to hold elections, asks Mona El-Nahhas Dozens of engineers are planning a partial sit-in in front of their union headquarters tomorrow to mark the 13th anniversary of the judicial sequestration of the Engineers' Syndicate. The syndicate was placed under sequestration in 1995 after its Islamist-controlled elected council was accused of financial violations. Since that date, complain engineers, the services offered to members have been in steady decline and millions of pounds wasted in the absence of any budgetary supervision by members of the union's appointed custodians. "Members of the Engineers' Syndicate will not stand idly by while funds are looted by the custodians," said engineer Rifaat Bayoumi. He claims that since being placed under sequestration up to LE12 billion of syndicate funds have gone missing. Tomorrow's sit-in follows an earlier, peaceful protest organised last week at the Alexandria headquarters of the Engineers Club. The demonstrators raised banners which read: "Our strikes will continue until sequestration is lifted and our syndicate liberated." They also issued a statement announcing that the sit-ins marked the beginning of a new stage in their struggle in which no options had been ruled out. The call for escalating action was first made by the anti-sequestration group of engineers formed in 2004 and which has attracted support from increasing numbers of frustrated syndicate members for a campaign that has included street demonstrations, conferences and the filing of lawsuits against officials accused of prolonging the stalemate, among them the head of the Cairo Southern Court and head of the judicial committee charged with managing syndicate affairs, Farouq Sultan, for failing to set a date for fresh syndicate elections. Sultan -- like his predecessors -- has argued that elections cannot be held until voter lists are updated. It is, point out engineers, the same excuse they have been hearing for 13 years. "Fear of Islamists winning a majority on the council and thus control of the syndicate is the only logical reason why the state has adopted a policy of deliberate delaying elections," Omar Abdallah, a leading member of the anti-sequestration group, told Al-Ahram Weekly. Last February the Administrative Court ruled that the head of the judicial committee charged with managing syndicate affairs should set a date for holding elections and begin the nomination process before tackling other electoral issues such as checking voters' lists. It is not the only ruling that has found in favour of engineers pressing for elections to be held. In 2004 a similar judgement was passed. It, too, was shelved. According to Abdallah, most recent ruling has simply been ignored by the head of the judicial committee. "We headed towards his office last March and presented him with a copy of the court ruling. We did not receive any response." "Although he knows quite well that the ruling should have been implemented at once Sultan adopted a tortuous route to delay its implementation," says Abdallah, noting that an appeal contesting the ruling had recently been submitted before a court that is not concerned with the case. The group is now discussing how to reply to what they claim is deliberate procrastination on the part of the state in holding elections. "Suing the head of the judicial committee for not implementing the ruling," notes Abdallah, "is one of the possible options being considered."
