Earlier this month, the Salafi Sheikh Muhammad Hassaan, launched a fund raising initiative which he labelled “The Egyptian aid initiative” that aims at doing away with US military and
Earlier this month, the Salafi Sheikh Muhammad Hassaan, launched a fund raising initiative which he labelled “The Egyptian aid initiative” that aims at doing away with US military and economic aid to Egypt, through direct fundraising from Egyptians. The initiative was activated the very day it was launched while the relevant Egyptian authorities: the Military Council, the Cabinet and Parliament, were to be advised in good time, Sheikh Hassaan said. He pledged the sum of the aid would be collected within one evening, saying that the US cannot shatter Egypt with its USD1.3 billion in aid. “I swear to God that the Egyptian people can in one night raise a hundred times more than the trivial US aid,” Hassaan said in an interview with State TV.
Do away with US aid?
According to a Central Bank of Egypt official, some EGP60 million were donated in the space of two days by Sheikh Hassaan’s “Egyptian Aid Initiative”. By contrast, a similar initiative by the Finance Ministry was only able to raise EGP40 million in a year.
Meanwhile, a number of economic and political entities, including, Islamist political parties as well as al-Azhar, expressed their support to the initiative, which “can save the Egyptian economy from collapsing”.
Sheikh Hassaan’s initiative came on the heels of strained relations between the US and the ruling Military Council, following the Egyptian decision to prosecute 19 Americans who were implicated in illegally funding Egyptian NGOs with US money, and after which Congress has threatened to halt US aid to Egypt. Watani sounded the experts on the aid issue and the counter-action launched by Sheikh Hassaan.
“The issue of the American aid is not merely an issue of funds that we can dispense with in order to cut short our relations with certain States,” Watani researcher and writer Soliman Shafiq points out. The real issue, he explains, is whether relations with the US are beneficial to Egypt or not. “And if we sever our relations with the US, can we guarantee that this will not also affect the US technical support that our markets badly needs?”
Mr Shafiq reminds that, by virtue of the Camp David Accord, the Egyptian Army is dependent on the US. The Camp David Accord, he reminded, is an agreement between Egypt and Israel, guaranteed by the US; it is not under the United Nations umbrella. “Renouncing US aid,” Mr Shafiq says, “implies we should amend our agreement with Israel.”
Arming Egypt
Major General Zakariya Hussein, head of the Nasser Military Academy complained to Watani that, following the 25 January Revolution, everyone has taken to giving their opinion on what they know or what they don’t. He agrees with Mr Shafiq that whoever is attempting to raise funds out of the poor Egyptians’ daily bread in order rid ourselves of US aid, knows very little about international relations. Contrary to what some Egyptians believe possible, Major General Hussein says, arming Egypt is not a matter we can trifle with. Even if we succeed in doing away with all US aid to Egypt, he says, neither the US, Russia, nor China will ever allow Egypt to be armed with offensive weaponry, or be superior to Israel. He said that even the Gulf States which possess funds and are able to cater for their own arms, are not able to surpass Israeli arming.
Major General Hussein explains that US aid does not flow into Egypt in the form of cash. Rather, he says, it comes in the form of spare parts or maintenance of military equipment, or expertise and know how in specific domains. It would be political stupidity to renounce it. The US, for its part, he says, is keen to retain strategic relations with Egypt, given Egypt’s stature in the region.
A day’s pay
Another high-profile fundraising initiative has been one by the Egyptian Workers Federation (EWF) calling for donations of a mere EGP10 from every one of Egypt’s 18 million workers. This, the EWF says, should raise some EGP100 million that would go to prop the State budget. Meanwhile, Mohamed Farid Khamis, head of the Egyptian Investors Union announced the intention of the union members to donate a sum equivalent to a full day’s worker pay to finance the State budget. Khamis also pledged to work on increasing the number of working hours to raise production.
The economic expert and former finance minister Hazem al-Biblawy told Watani that any communal initiative to support the Egyptian economy warrants applaud. He reminds though, of the hard truth that the EGP100 million—equivalent to some USD17 million—are too meagre to replace any source of funding, especially considering the huge losses incurred by the Egyptian economy.
No strikes and walk-outs
“It is all very well to make an effort to prop the failing Egyptian economy,” says Naela Allouba, member of the Businessmen Association. “But one-time donations will not do so. It has to go on in a sustainable manner,” she says.
What can be the use of donations, Ms Allouba says, if tax evasion is so rampant? Egyptians might as well prop their economy by prompt payment of taxes, and the State should make sure the tax money is not wasted on unnecessary government expenditure. She suggests that the funds raised by the Egyptian initiative should be directed to education, human development and social services, as a sure way to help build the Egyptian economy.
Commenting on the Workers Federation initiative to support the Egyptian economy, Fouad Shaker, former secretary general of the Arab Banks Union says we need higher production through serious work not mere rhetoric. The many worker incessant strikes and walk-outs burden the economy much more than can be made for by a day’s pay in donations.
As to the issue of US aid to Egypt, Dr Shaker reminds that it includes military aid which cannot be done away with, and economic aid which amounts to USD350 million and which is much less than the daily losses of our economic sector. What the Egyptian economy needs in order to get back on its feet, he says, are hard work and political and social stability.
Cumulative taxes
The issue of taxation can play a significant role in getting our economy wheels rolling, according to Sherif Qassem, Professor of Economics at the Sadat Academy for Administrative Sciences. Successful businessmen have a responsibility vis-à-vis the community, Dr Qassem says, and this could be achieved through their payment of cumulative taxes. The current 10 per cent tax needs to be replaced with a 30 per cent income tax on those whose monthly earnings exceed EGP100,000, and a 20 per cent tax on those who earn EGP200,000 per month. This would allow the State to provide basic resources, he says.
“I am a supporter of self dependency,” Dr Qassem says. “Initiatives for the rescue of the economy should be honest, and should be supported by investors’ societies as well as the various different syndicates and unions; in short, by the community in its entirety.”
WATANI International
26 February 2012