The grandson of Wafd Party founder Saad Zaghloul criticized the current party chief Mahmoud Abaza over the party's deteriorating status in a phone call to a television program yesterday. Mohamed Rashad Zaghloul noted that the Wafd office in his grandfather's hometown of Ibyana in Kafr el-Sheikh Governorate is closed and remains alienated from the Cairo office, although residents in the area support the Wafd Party. "Abaza has never visited Ibyana," Zaghloul said during his phone call to al-Tabaa al-Oula TV program, "I believe he does not know of the hometown of the party founder whose memory is ignored by current leaders." Zaghloul added that the current vice-chairman of Wafd, Fouad Badrawi, used to visit the village every year on behalf of former chairman Fouad Serag Eddin. When the latter died, Badrawi ceased his visits, according to Zaghloul. Zaghloul asked why Abaza relies on civil society organizations for funding, even though Serag Eddin left tens of millions in banks before his death, plus a palace and the offices of Al-Wafd newspaper. He also asked why the party's supreme committee does not include a member of the Zaghloul family, and questioned the reason for the party's being limited to the Cairo headquarters. In other Wafd Party news, a number of party members expressed discontent with Mohamed Khodeiry, the party's secretary in Port Said, who suggested hiring a DJ for Easter celebrations. When the Wafd committee refused, Khodeiry brought the DJ himself to one of the party's branches in Port Said, to the dismay of other party members. Security intervened and canceled the party fearing clashes. A Wafd leader requested an investigation into the incident, calling it as a squandering of party funds that are intended to serve the Wafd Party's political objectives. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
