CAIRO: Agriculture Minister Amin Abaza reached an agreement with employees at the General Authority of Reconstruction Projects and Agricultural Development (GARPAD) as well as the Land Reclamation sector, who staged a protest in front of the ministry. The protestors were calling on the minister to revoke a decree that would deprive them of owning land in return for their resignation. Abaza arrived at the scene within a couple of hours of the protest and reached an agreement over the controversial decision by 11 am. When the minister arrived at the protest with his secretary Hussein Ghaneima at 10:30 am he promised to retract the decision, based on the understanding that they will get the land at its current price, not the price of LE1,500 per acre, at which it was valued 10 years ago. "According to the ministry's decision No. 1432 for year 1991 [introduced by former Agriculture Minister Youssef Wali], employees in both these sectors have the right to a plot of land if they resign their government posts after paying part of the price of the land upfront and the rest in installments over 30 years. This land is specified in Clause 50 for the year 2007, which was ratified by the current minister, accountant Abdel Maguid Taema, an employee at GARPAD, told Daily News Egypt. He added that the law specified that former employees would be entitled to a total of 5,000 acres in Al-Ayyat project 70 km South of Cairo: 10 acres would be allocated to senior employees with high qualifications, five acres to middle-range employees, and 2.5 acres to office administrators. "The ministry even ran a public advertisement encouraging people to apply for the land and 1,700 applied, he added. However, last month, on Feb. 28, the Minister of Agriculture announced decision No. 245 canceling decision No. 1432 for year 1991 which was issued on the basis of provisions in Article 14 of Law 143 of the 1981. This law states that "the specified authority is allowed to grant land to employees in the GARPAD and the Land Reclamation sector who submit their resignation, according to local press reports. As a response, Taema continued, the employees held a protest on March 9 and 10. They also wrote a memo and a petition demanding the cancellation of the minister's recent decision. "Last Wednesday we met with Walid Hamza, the minister's consultant, but he said that he would need a week before he can discuss the issue with the minister to find a solution, Taema said. Rejecting the delay, the employees went on another protest Monday and ended it when they received a promise from the minister. Teama added, however, that employees who received a land between 2007 and 2009 had paid LE1,500 per acre for it. The protestors accepted the compromise, but asked the minister to put into consideration the fact that they are they have limited resources and hence cannot pay exorbitant amounts for the land. The minister promised to meet the employees again next Thursday or Sunday at most.
