El-Sheikh instead KHALED El-Sheikh, the candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), on 16 July won bi-elections of the Tala district in the Nile-Delta governorate of Menoufiya. El-Sheikh won unopposed. The Tala bi-elections were held in order to fill its workers' seat which became vacant after the People's Assembly dropped the parliamentary membership of Esmat El-Sadat, the nephew of former president Anwar El-Sadat, in May. Esmat El-Sadat was expelled from the People's Assembly following a court ruling declaring him bankrupt. The assembly had been unusually quick on the issue although El-Sadat appealed that the Court of Cassation should revoke the ruling. The Cassation Court last week ordered that the bankruptcy verdict must be revoked and that El-Sadat has the right to exercise his political rights. Upon orders from the Cassation Court, Menoufiya's Administrative Justice Court (MAJC) decided that the Tala bi- elections must be postponed and that a new date be set in order to allow El-Sadat to vie for its seat. The Supreme Administrative Court, however, decided on 15 July that upon an appeal by the government, MAJC's order must be revoked and that the bi-elections take place as planned on 16 July. El-Sadat told parliament on 29 May that the rush to strip him of parliamentary membership was politically motivated. He said he believed accusations of corruption levelled against people close to Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak, precipitated his fall from grace. Last year, Talaat El-Sadat, Esmat's brother and MP for Tala's professionals' seat, was sentenced by a military court to one year in jail after being convicted of insulting the army. The Sadat brothers have claimed there is a campaign against them because they have been vociferous in parliament in their criticism of President Mubarak and his family. Deal not sealed ALMOST a month ago, workers in the Ghazl Al-Mehalla textile company threatened wide-ranging action on 21 July if the government did not come to an agreement regarding issues of better pay and worker benefits, reports Karim El-Khashab. Workers had already organised one of the biggest strikes of the past years, in December 2006, with around 2,700 workers joining in. Clearly concerned by the possibility of even bigger shutdowns that would spread to other industrial centres like Kafr Al-Dawar, Helwan and Cairo, the head of the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions Hussein Megawar and a representative of the Ministry of Labour met a number of worker leaders on 16 July and reached what seemed to be a tentative deal concerning their demands. According to Mohamed Attar, who attended the meeting as a representative of the Mehalla workers, the government showed unprecedented flexibility on issues they had previously refused out of hand. Attar said some of the main points that were agreed on included adjusting the development incentives bonuses, from being divided into three categories with different monetary values for different workers to two categories, thus raising the bonuses of many workers. Other agreements included fixing an outdated pricing index that affects workers bonuses, fixing annual bonuses and increasing monthly bonuses, plus increasing the annual share of profits from the equivalent of 45 working days to two months. The agreement was reportedly initially welcomed by most workers as a sign the government was taking seriously the threats made. However, a day after the agreement Attar told Al-Ahram Weekly that he and others were beginning to doubt the government's commitment to the accord. "The government had promised to issue a statement to all publicly owned factories that would include all the points agreed upon, but has so far failed to do so or even to explain when this is going to happen," Attar said, adding that he fears that the agreement could be just a stall tactic. He said if the statement did not come out, the planned protest on 21 July will go ahead and that workers will be even more determined. "We agreed to calm things down in the interest of the workers and their livelihoods," Attar said, adding, "we are now working to explain to all the relevant government agencies our resolve after exhausting every possible avenue. This way no one can blame us when we resort to strikes and mass sit-ins." Safe waters THE GOVERNMENT has prepared the draft of an amendment of Article 12 of the 1982 law on irrigation and drainage which safeguards the Nile waters. The draft of the amended bill will be submitted to parliament following President Hosni Mubarak's instructions that the government punish all those who pollute the Nile. Minister of Irrigation and Water Resources Mahmoud Abu Zeid announced that the ministry is also revising Article 48 of the 1984 law, concerning the protection of water passages from pollution so that it be made adaptable to present standards, before it is passed on to the cabinet.
