I hope that Dr. Nazif's government would understand that President Mubarak allocating ten pilgrimage visas for every deputy in the People's Assembly or the Shura Council should not exclude the opposition, the independents and even the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) MPs. The presidential visas are a gift rather than a partisan bribe. They are not a bonus for the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) MPs for their performance in the party's fifth annual conference. The presidential order as I understood it, hoping Presidential Chief of Staff Zakaria Azmi would correct me if I was wrong, does not exclude anybody even if it was ordered in a meeting of the NDP parliamentary bloc. Therefore, the NDP government should distribute visas equally between MPs to prove for once that it is smart and that it gave up partisan stupidity. The second point is that all NDP deputies should be a model like their MB counterparts and distribute the presidential visas among the needy in their constituencies transparently and without any political considerations or partisan sensitivities. Charity begins at home! The public lots should be drawn to distribute those visas for the lucky rather than for the well-connected. The presidential visas are not for supporting partisan effort. The NDP deputies get ministerial decrees to provide their constituencies with direct government services, such as water, sanitary drainage, electricity and health-care units in preparation for the 2010 parliamentary elections, whereas the opposition, the independents and the MB deputies suffer from a service drought. However, the pilgrimage presidential visas are not part of the government services. Nor are they a subject of partisan competition or the NDP strategy to cordon off the opposition. Some citizens in the MB constituencies wish they could do the pilgrimage even on camels, but they have no visas. The third point is that all MPs should illustrate the way that was followed in distributing the visas. Fourth: trafficking visas will inevitably boom. Ten visas could reach LE 130,000 and travel agencies may even pay more than that. And the price of a presidential visa on the black market will be exorbitant. Fifth: if it was proven that those visas were sold in the black market, what would we do? Some MPs exploit the pilgrimage and umra (minor pilgrimage) seasons to traffic visas. Sixth: some MPs have no political shame to the extent that one of them hung up an eye-catching sign downtown saying: The MP is happy to receive umra applications for the year 2008. Umra performers will travel by first-class planes for LE 5350; second-class planes for LE 5000; first-class steamer for LE 3500; and second-class steamer for LE 3450. Performers will travel by air-conditioned cars and enjoy first-class stay in Mecca and Medina. You can reserve at the office of hajj on Tahrir St.
