Category: Blog
The General’s Budget
Some quick statistics about the budget of General Habib el-Adly’s Interior Ministry, as reported by today’s Ad-Dostour:
The Interior Ministry’s official budget as allocated by the government for the current financial year 2006/2007 is the budget is LE9.579 billions.
The budget last year 2005/2006 was LE8.305 billions.
The budget two years ago 2004/2005 was LE7.59 billions.
This basically means the interior ministry’s (official) budget is increasing by roughly LE1 billion a year.
From those LE9.579 billions: 72% goes to the officers’ salaries and rewards = LE6.921 billions.
Salaries back in 2002/2003 were no more than LE4.699 billions.
There’s also an item in the Interior Ministry’s budget called “Investments.” Retired Brigadier General Mahmoud el-Qotri explained to Ad-Dostour that “investments” item refers to building police stations, security directorates, prisons and police officers’ social clubs.
“Investments” over the past five years have been as the following:
2006/2007: LE1.2 billions
2005/2006: LE 903 millions
2004/2005: LE1.21 billion
2003/2004: LE841 millions
2002/2003: LE739 millions
Another item is also described as “Commodities and Services”
2006/2007: LE974 millions
2004/2005: LE834 millions (This was LE200 millions more than the previous year’s)
“Miscellaneous” items (not specified):
2006/2007: LE496 millions
2004/2005: LE730 millions
Now compare the above-mentioned figures to the following:
The budget for housing for the year 2006/2007 was LE4.068 billions.
Although this is an increase by 13% compared to the year before, but the budget for housing for the year 2004/2005 was actually LE5.619 billions.
The budget for Health in 2006/2007 was LE9.145 billions, with an increase of 11% increase than previous year.
Banna to MPs: Investigating police torture is more important than the veil
Liberal writer Gamal el-Banna, brother of the Muslim Brotherhood’s founder Hassan el-Banna, had a good op-ed in today’s Al-Masry Al-Youm, where he slammed members of parliament for devoting their energies to discuss Farouk Hosni’s remarks about the veil. Instead, they should focus on torture inside police stations, he insisted, referring to leaked police brutality videos he watched on a CD.