Two MPs, Gamal Zahran (independent) and Hamdy Hassan (Muslim Brotherhood), submitted two urgent statements to the Prime Minister and five ministers on the article printed by Al-Masry Al-Youm last Thursday about political bribes paid by the government to MPs of the National Democratic Party [NDP]. Dr. Zahran accused the government of racial discrimination, as it made gifts only to some MPs and wasted public money for political purposes. He said this runs counter to democratic systems and especially the US, Egypt's aid supplier. Zahran unveiled that the government had given LE 250,000 to each NDP MP, something he described as a collapse of values such as justice and accountability. He also affirmed that the statement printed by Al-Masry Al-Youm was the same that had already been submitted by opposition MPs to unveil cases of political bribery last year. The MP added that one of Great Cairo's governors called on NDP MPs to allocate those gifts to development projects as printed by national newspapers. Finally, he said it was necessary to discuss his statement immediately. Dr. Hamdy Hassan pointed out that spending millions of Egyptian pounds of public money for individuals selected by the NDP, while there are millions of Egyptians living under the poverty line, was a violation of the principle of equality set forth by the Constitution and the Law. He also explained that silence would not protect the NDP and the government from the accusation of wasting public money in favor of NDP MPs and those close to them.
