CAIRO: A slaughterhouse may seem a strange way to begin a presidential campaign, but for Egyptian politician Ayman Nour it was a strategic move. Nour opened a new slaughterhouse in Cairo's Bab el-Shareya neighborhood today. Nour served two terms – ten years – as the district's parliamentarian before the 2005 presidential elections, when he rocked the country's political scene by placing second to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The opening of the slaughterhouse comes in the framework of Nour's presidential campaign and before parliamentary elections, scheduled for November. Nour's “New” al-Ghad Party – a rebirth of the party he founded in 2004 – coordinated with Sudanese companies to import fresh meat. The meat will be sold at the production price of 40 EGP per kilo (U.S. $6.80) and will be available at various outlets. During a celebration at the Nour Cultural Center, Nour said this step comes amid different projects that aim to ease the burdens of Egypt's poor. Around half of Egypt's population lives on less that $1 per day. Nour says he is the only presidential candidate whose electoral program emerges from the heart of Egyptian society. Nour said Egyptians hope to apply real justice with its political, economic and social concepts in this new era, because Egyptians were deprived of justice for 30 years. The beginning of this era was the fall of the former regime, and Egyptians must build a new state based on respect for the value of each individual, said Nour. Nour said his electoral program includes establishing a bank for poor people and offering 300 EGP (U.S. $50) for welfare benefits such as unemployment. The candidate criticized not applying Egypt's new minimum wage of 1,200 EGP (U.S. $203) in one step. He also said Egypt's inflate rate is now over 10 percent. If such inflation increases, Nour said in five years it will be the equivalent of a 50 percent inflation, meaning the purchasing power of the 1,200 EGP minimum wage will be the equivalent of 600 EGP now, which is lower than the current minimum wage of 700 EGP (U.S. $118). Egypt's interim government has agreed to a 1,200 EGP minimum wage, but said it will take five years to implement that wage. Nour said he is ready to apply the minimum wage from tomorrow. He said this can be achieved by setting a maximum monthly wage of 30,000 EGP (U.S. $5,000). He asked, “Is it logical that a minister's counselor receives one million pounds (U.S. $170,000) per month?” Following the 2005 elections, Nour was sentenced to five years in prison on forgery charges widely considered to be politically motivated. In the wake of the country's January revolution, the Cairo Court of Cassation agreed in May to re-try Nour's forgery case. A date for the new trial has not been set.
