CAIRO - The decision to dissolve the National Democratic Party (NDP) has led to a problem with its properties. Some of them were given to the party by the former Government, while others were donated by members of the party. Following the ruling, the current Government has announced that a villa owned by the NDP in Giza will become the headquarters of the National Council of Human Rights. Meanwhile, Misr Petroleum Company has removed the NDP sign from a palace in Cairo and replaced it with one of its own signs. According to an official at the company, the palace is owned by Misr Petroleum, which was renting it to the NDP for only LE42 (about $7) annually! As for the NDP premises in Heliopolis, the sign carrying the party's name has also been removed and all the doors have been shut and bolted. Meanwhile, the employees who worked there have been protesting outside, as they haven't been paid ��" although they won't say for how long they haven't been paid. Mohamed Ragab, the NDP Secretary-General, has told them that they will get their money soon, adding that they won't be affected by the historic Supreme Administrative Court ruling to dissolve the party. Saeed el-Fa'r, the head of the party's liquidation committee and its legal representative, notes that the court has been informed that the people who worked as employees for the party need to be paid, before the dissolution takes effect. He points out that some of the buildings are owned by the party, while some of the others are being rented. “For example, the premises in Heliopolis are being rented from the Heliopolis Company for Housing and Reconstruction and the NDP has already paid the rent till the end of this year,” el-Fa'r comments. As for the NDP headquarters on the Nile Corniche near Al Tahrir Square, ownership will revert to Cairo Governorate. Meanwhile, the NDP building in Qasr el-Aini Street is also owned by Misr Petroleum Company. Essam Hagag, the company's legal representative, says that the NDP has been renting the building, a three-floor premises, also for LE42 a year since 1981. For the past three decades, the company has been trying to cancel the contract and get the building back. Following the recent ruling, the company's sign has been put back on the building, which was damaged by fire in the recent demonstrations. The NDP's three-floor building in Giza is very old and was originally owned by the Socialist Union. In 1977, Moustafa Khalil, the Union's Secretary-General, ordered that it be handed over to the NDP. Ahmed el-Fadali, the head of the Democratic Peace Party, was the first person to call for the dissolution of the NDP and for all its funds to be liquidated and its assets returned to the State. Abdel-Khaleq Farouq, an expert in political and economic affairs, told Al-Akhbar semi-official newspaper that 45,000 NDP members 'obtained' LE12 billion ($2.1 billion) between 2000 and 2010. “To rescue Egypt, we should revise the agreements signed for the exportation of natural gas to Europe. That would save us LE20 million annually. “We should also cut the budget for the Armed Forces and Police, which would save us another LE12 billion annually. If we upgraded the tax system, we'd save another LE12 billion annually,” he stressed.
