CAIRO: Egypt’s water is being wasted on tourist resorts and golf courses while those most in need cannot access it, opposition MP Anwar Esmat El-Sadat said.
The spokesman for the popular campaign to prevent Egyptian gas exports to Israel has widened the scope of his campaigning to encompass water issues and human rights.
Sadat sent two letters, one to Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif concerning the issue of water shortages, and another to Boutros Boutros Ghali, head of the National Council for Human Rights, on constitutional anti-discrimination draft laws.
In the first of these letters, Sadat asked Nazif to explain “the draining of water resources to irrigate resorts and golf courses at a time of water shortages and not allocating enough water to farmers to counter the current global food crisis.
Sadat added that a lot of cities and villages in Egypt did not have access to drinking water, let alone enough water for irrigation projects, and urged Nazif to “intervene in order to protect our water resources. The opposition MP also sent a letter to Ghali concerning proposed legislature by council member Mona Zulfaqqar to ensure equal opportunity and non-discrimination between citizens.
Sadat said in his letter that these principles were already enshrined in the Egyptian constitution, specifically Articles 8, 48 and 68 which prohibit any for of discrimination between Egyptian citizens.
The MP reaffirmed that he supported the right of every citizen to enjoy equal opportunity and not be discriminated against because of belief, gender or color. But he also urged Ghali not to attempt to push for new legislation that might cause tension between Egyptians.
He asked Ghali to work towards activating the constitutional articles that had so far been ignored in a transparent manner.
Transparency is something the MP and his colleagues in the campaign against gas exportation to Israel have been calling for from the Ministry of Petroleum’s Sameh Fahmy.
Despite a breakthrough in the campaign when Fahmy announced that all exported gas prices would be reviewed by the ministry, members of the campaign still feel much has been left unanswered.
Some of those questions include the real figures of Egypt’s gas reserves, which officials from the ministry place at between 72-74 billion cubic meters while an international independent expert placed it as closer to 36 billion.
Coordinator of the gas campaign Abdallah Helmy previously told Daily News Egypt, “We need an open session that includes opposition, government and international bodies to announce the correct figures and make calculated decisions regarding a new pricing scheme [for gas exports].
