New law for NGO funds in Egypt

Two days before resuming court sessions for the NGO funding case in Egypt, sources from inside the Social Insurance Ministry disclosed that 170 NGOs were handed 593 foreign funding  donations in 2011, totalling 596 million EGP ($100 million USD). Those funds were approved by the ministry. The ministry’s legal adviser, Mohammed al-Demerdash, confirmed the ministry’s approval of the pre-mentioned funds, while adding that the ministry rejected 41 other donations, applied for by 10 Egyptian NGOs, with a total of 9.151 million EGP ($1.6 million USD), as they were not in accordance with NGO law 84, issued in 2004. Demerdash revealed in a press conference that 40 NGOs have been handed 93 funding donations since the beginning of 2012, with a total of 99.928 million EGP ($18 million USD), while the Social Insurance Ministry rejected 17 other donations applied for by 10 NGOs totalling 11.416 million EGP ($2million USD). Demerdash emphasised that his ministry has put in place a strict audit system to ensure that those funds will be spent for the purposes approved by the ministry. Demerdash stressed that those statistics are fair proof that the government is not against non-governmental activities in Egypt, adding that the foreign funds designated for NGOs will be considered as part of the national treasury, according to a new law regarding NGOs, which is still in preparation. Head of the ministry’s Central Administration of NGOs, Aziza Youssef, explained that the new law is intended to plug certain gaps in the previous law, “which was exploited by certain individuals who managed these funds for illegal purposes and even for their own personal interests”, said Youssef. The Human Development Committee of Egypt’s Advisory Council, had earlier accused Hosni Mubarak’s regime for allowing certain foreign organisations to work in Egypt in an illegal way, while these organisations were used by some international governments -- particularly the USA -- to impose political decisions that were adopted by the ousted regime, according to the committee members.