CAIRO: The Ministry of Administrative Development's recent decision to assign "an anti-corruption commissioner to overlook ministries and government bodies generated varied responses from civil, political and rights groups. The ministry's transparency and integrity committee's decision was viewed by some as a step in the right direction to combating corruption in Egypt, while others deemed it Egypt's way of circumventing its international obligations towards international agreements to fight corruption. According to Hafez Abu Saeda, director of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) and member of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), the transparency and integrity committee was formed based on a proposal by Boutros Boutros Ghali, NCHR chairman. The government's initiative to combat corruption, Abu Saeda said, proves that it acknowledges the threat the wide-spread practice poses. He told Daily News Egypt that the government "will not tolerate corruption and will not protect corrupt people. George Ishaq, founder and former coordinator of the Kefaya movement, told Daily News Egypt that cooperation between all civil and state bodies is necessary in fighting corruption. On the other hand, Bothayna Kamel, general coordinator of the Citizens Against Corruption movement, said the government's initiative is a way around its obligations in front of the international community, and an attempt to sway global public opinion in its favor by implying that it is taking serious steps to combat corruption. She also linked the initiative to the official report the government is obliged to submit to Transparency International in November, which should include the steps it is taking to fulfill its promise to fight corruption. Kamel said her movement is initiating a coalition under the name "Friends of the International Agreement to Fight Corruption to pressure the government to fulfill its obligations before the international community and eradicate corruption. The coalition is planning on submitting a "parallel report about corruption in Egypt. Kamel called on the government to form an independent body of public figures and judges to fight corruption, free of any governmental figures. Amr El-Choubaki, political expert at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Daily News Egypt that Egypt doesn't need a commissioner in every ministry, but rather needs to implement the existing laws that fight the phenomenon. El-Choubaki labeled the initiative a "political façade, adding that the real problem is the lack of the current regime's political will to fight corruption because it became a part of the regime.
