Manal Hassan is a young engineer with the building authority of Giza governorate. Hassan’s salary does not exceed LE275 a month and she shares a tiny, obscure flat with her parents, yet she refused LE45,000 in bribe money and a LE2 million flat in a centralised site in Giza. The story began in 2005 when a businessman demanded a permit to demolish an old, small house in Giza in order to build a modern skyscraper on the site instead. Hassan refused to give him the permit because the old house did not need demolition. Hassan said that what she did was normal, “it is my duty,” she said.
Egyptian Fighter’s Award
Last Sunday, Egyptians Against Corruption (EAC)—a movement established in 2006 to encourage fighting corruption—celebrating International Anti-Corruption Day by granting the Egyptian Fighter’s Award to figures who actively confronted and fought corruption.
“The idea began last year when activists realised that Egypt had signed and ratified the United Nation’s treaty on Anti-Corruption four years ago but had never made the fact public by publishing it in the official newspaper as required by law. It was made public only in March 2007 following efforts by activists,” said Buthaina Kamel, the supervisor-general of the anti-corruption campaign.
“Without transparency and the right to access information, corruption can never be fought,” Kamel said. She closed by remarking that the state security authorities had tried to prevent that ongoing celebration of fighting corruption; it was scheduled at Sawy Culture Wheel—one of Egypt’s most prestigious cultural centres—but the booking was unexpectedly cancelled and “we were told it was because of security reasons,” she said.
The awards were then distributed. The award came in the form of the folk pottery jug ++Olla++, with a lid in the form of a golden replica of Egypt’s 20th-century pioneer sculptor Mahmoud Mukhtar’s famous statue Nahdet Misr (Egypt’s Renaissance). It sent the message that Egypt will never rise unless it fought corruption.
Whistle blower
The first winner was Hassan who, in addition to the award was granted LE5,000.
Soheir al-Sharqawi, an employee with the Health Ministry, won second prize. Sharqawi was the whistle blower in the infamous case of the contaminated blood bags imported for the ministry by Hayedelena for Advanced Medical Industries Company (HAMIC). Although Parliament affirmed the corruption, the case is still being investigated and Soheir was punished and moved to another hospital and her salary was reduced to LE500 from the original LE3000, since all the incentives were cancelled. The punishment never lead Sharqawi to resign but she took her case against the Health Ministry to court.
The third prize went to the public committee for defending insurance and pension funds, and the fourth went to the residents of Ezbet al-Khalouti. The 300 poor families of Khalouti fought hard to defend the land they lived upon and the small houses they had built from the authority of the Interior Ministry which wished to demolish them and sell the land to big investment.
