DURING ITS first session the newly installed Egyptian cabinet yesterday announced a 15 per cent pay rise for the country’s six million public servants in order to boost the government’s standing. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, meanwhile, continued to demand the removal of the President Hosni Mubarak.
Minister for finance Samir Radwan said $960 million (€707 million) would be allocated to cover salary and pension increments which are set to take effect in April. Public sector employees have, traditionally, been staunch supporters of the regime. But in recent years their salaries have fallen in real terms as prices have risen, compelling the authorities to announce periodic increments.
But the increase did not impress low-paid employees or pensioners. A doctor who qualified in the west said his pension was about $40 a month, while one elderly man taking part in the Tahrir (Liberation) Square protests said his was $15 a month.
The cabinet decision follows pledges announced by vice-president Omar Suleiman on Sunday to investigate corruption, and vote rigging during last November’s parliamentary election. The government also said it would free Wael Ghonim, a marketing manager for Google. He was arrested on January 27th for playing a prominent role in internet communications that sparked the mass protest movement which has taken Egypt and the region by storm.
Mr Suleiman’s meeting with opposition groups included 10 former regime stalwarts, independents and representatives of traditional political parties. These included the liberal Wafd Party which has been discredited for collaborating with the regime for decades.
For the outlawed, but tolerated, Muslim Brotherhood the meeting with the vice-president was recognition of its importance on the political scene.
The brotherhood, which commands support of perhaps 10 to 15 per cent of the people, has been demonised by the West as a potential kingmaker in Egypt and the font of Islamist political activism. However, most Egyptians dismiss the notion that a Muslim fundamentalist regime modelled on that of Iran could emerge if Mr Mubarak’s secular government is ousted.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair warned yesterday that the brotherhood had to be “treated with caution”.
However, he added that it was not an extremist group or one bent on imposing a “religious autocracy” on Egypt. For decades secular Arab regimes have exploited western fears of the brotherhood as justification for its suppression.
In Tahrir Square protesters continued their vigil, demanding the dismissal of Mr Mubarak as the price for vacating the heart of the capital. Hundreds have taken up residence in half a dozen encampments, while vendors sell them tea, roasted sweet potatoes, popcorn and cigarettes from their stalls.