Muslim Brotherhood 2008 Municipal Election Platform

Egyptians are suffering from the deteriorating local councils and lack of basic services, including health, education, drinking water sewerage and others. This led to violating all main rights of the citizens. This is attributed mainly to receding Islamic values which were always a main component of the Egyptian fabric, including Muslims and Copts. This led to the spread of corruption, bribery and nepotism, and the absence of popular supervision which should be carried out by Local People”s Councils.
 
From this stems the importance of breathing new life into these elected Local People”s Councils to achieve the required effective popular supervision. This made us decide to take part in these municipal elections, raising the banner of reform “I desire nothing but reform so far as I am able ” ( Surat Hood: from verse 88).
Taking part in the municipal elections, the Muslim Brotherhood group knows  very well how difficult it is to be shouldered with a responsibility under hard economic conditions and administrative exercises that pose hurdles to work over , and in the midst of an atmosphere in which values, to which our people have been sticking, have receded, an atmosphere that lacks self-supervision, self-accountability and preservation of the national fabric and capabilities. In these elections, the Muslim Brotherhood group believes in the principles of participation with other national and political powers, and gives due consideration to reality, and repeatedly raises the banner of reform ” I desire nothing but reform so far as I am able ” ( Surat Hood: from verse 88, according to the following bases:
 
1- Following the divine instruction in the story of the messenger of Allah Mousa (Moses)- peace be upon him:” Hire him! For the best (man) that thou canst hire in the strong, the trustworthy”, (AlQasas: verse 26), we support any efficient person who seeks to be shouldered with this responsibility, regardless of any religious or political affiliation.
2-Respecting the nation”s identity, constants, values and Islamic civilization.
3- Rationalization of public spending in clear rules that achieve a just distribution, equal opportunities and commitment to giving priorities in addressing needs.
4-We demand fighting corruption in executive local councils through applying law and activating the popular supervision to elected local councils.
5-We confirm that the local development must be based on the principle of popular self-sufficiency to bridge the gap of the government withdrawal from funding some facilities.
6-Achieving popular solidarity among all citizens to face crises and disasters and fight disease, hunger and unemployment .. are one of the most important bases of success in the local work.
7-Giving care to the Egyptian citizen who is the main target of development.
8-Raising values of dialogue and cooperation among all.
These bases will definitely contribute to achieving justice, the core of Sharia (Islamic law, among citizens, and to restore the missing confidence-building between them and state bodies to continue building our beloved country, Egypt .
 
It is a source of honour for the Muslim Brotherhood to submit, to the Egyptian people, its municipal election platform which is derived from its general view of reform based on Islamic values in this important stage of our national history, through:
 
1-Fighting corruption in executive local councils through holding those corrupt persons accountably by applying law and activating the popular supervision to elected local councils.
2- Reaching a complete local development based on popular self-sufficiency to bridge the gap created by the government”s withdrawal from funding facilities.
3- Achieving popular solidarity among all citizens to face crises and disasters and to fight illiteracy, disease, hunger and unemployment.
 
To reach:
*A health service that meets the minimum required of health services.
*A serious primary education that establishes the basic cultural structure of students.
*A clean and sound environment which is void of all kinds of pollution.
 
We want all Egyptian citizens to be positive and create a heavy turnout in the coming Municipal elections:
“Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancour”. (AlMaeda, from verse 2.
 
– Together for fighting corruption.
– Together for fighting price hikes.
– Together for a popular development.
– Together for reform.
 
The cooperation of all efforts is a must so as to rise from stumbles, tackle our problems and to realize the required progress.
 
Therefore, we submit this platform hoping that you find your aspirations and seeking your usual support.
 
Main objectives of the program
1- Encouraging popular efforts (societal participation in development and service projects).
 
2- Focusing on integration and coordination among various bodies inside local councils.
 
3-Giving a priority to projects of cleaning, pure water, sewerage systems and protecting the environment.
 
4- Activation the role of educational, religious and youth institutions in spreading awareness about problems in the society, human development, qualification and training .
 
5-Providing feasibility studies for development and investment projects and small projects that suit every local council and providing training on these projects.
 
6- Caring for the youth, spreading Islamic values and fighting destructive habits invading the society.
 
7- Fighting political, financial and administrative corruption and all forms of social hypocrisy.
 
8- Fighting all everyday problems that Egyptian citizens suffer from.
 
9- Supporting women”s role in the society in general and villages in particular, activating the Egyptian woman”s personal abilities and strengthening her role in contributing to plans and development processes, allowing her to cooperate in projects aiming to improve the quality of life and helping women in achieving a balance between her family role and her role in society .
 
10- Developing, strengthening and encouraging the role of the private sector in supporting social and voluntary work to serve the Egyptian society.
 
11-Caring for real projects related to agricultural development, protection of the environment and natural resources.
 
Details of the Program
 
In the Health Field:
1-Activating a periodical supervision from Local People”s Council committees on health facilities.
2-Listing needs and calling on concerned authorities to implement them accompanied by a continuous monitoring to secure a quick implementation.
3-Activating voluntary popular efforts to afford a part of treatment and equipment of hospitals and health units (in coordination with charities).
4-Holding seminars to qet peole acquaited with health related issues and to warn against harmful hygienic conducts and against seasonal or unexpected diseases under the banner of “Protection is better than treatment”.
 
5-Establishing a health unit or a medical center in every administrative unit, and developing the current ones through affording various specializations and the lack of doctors can be replaced the voluntary efforts.
6-Organizing free medical convoys that include various specializations, especially in poor regions that lack services, and attempting to afford free medication for them.
 
7-Affording better health services (an advanced health unit in every village, and a renal dialysis unit in every center).
 
In the Field of Education, Abolition of Illiteracy:
1-Breathing new life into educational bodies through activating a periodic popular supervision.
2-Working for increasing the number of schools in the various levels, specially primary education schools in villages (this can by supported by personal efforts of residents who may donate lands for this purpose), specially in overcrowded areas whose schools have morning and afternoon periods and in schools that have huge numbers of students.
3-Activating the role of Parents Councils to create a good contact between the school and society.
4-Encouraging popular and voluntary efforts in the field abolishing illiteracy, allocating incentive prizes for volunteers and coordinating between youth centers, charities and mosques in this field and not restricting adult education to only reading and writing, but making them be aware of various aspects of life.
5-Increasing one-class schools to solve the problem of leaving school, specially for girls.
6-Providing more opportunities for the participation of private civil and cooperative sector in widening the scope of educational services (tutorial classes …).
 
In the Field of Cleaning and Environment:
1-Reconsidering cleaning, specially concerning shops and activities, and linking fees to the type of activity. Restaurants and juice shops are for example different from pharmacies and attorneyship offices.
2-Increasing garbage trucks in villages and districts.
3-Increasing supervision on cleaning companies working in cities.
4-Preventing burning garbage inside or near residential blocks, and reoperating current and closed garbage burners.
5-Preventing using garbage in covering underground waterways.
6-Following up the implementation of waste recycling projects and giving them a priority in allocations.
7-Coordinating with schools, mosques, churches, charities and health units to carry out education campaigns to get citizens at home with the cleaning issue, and make all people be sure that (Cleanliness is next to godliness).
8-Offering a prize for the cleanest street or unit.
9-Hanging posters campaigning for cleanliness and preservation of environment.
10-Encouraging planting trees and encouraging the popular role (i.e. project of a tree from every citizen).
11-Planting trees in roadsides and entrances and increasing the size of green areas in cities and villages.
12-Working for increasing the number of compressors of rice straws and straw recycling plants.
13-Preventing throwing sewerage in open waterways, especially irrigation canals, and firmly opposing this bad habit, affording local and sovereign resources, and encouraging popular efforts for sewerage projects and water distillation stations.
14-Increasing cleaning patrols and following up how far the big number of workers in these patrols is well-used.
 
Electricity and Lighting:
1-Bringing electricity to powerless regions.
2-Caring for street lighting, specially slum districts.
3-Curbing repeated power outage through periodical follow-up of maintenance.
 
Roads and transportation:
1-Covering irrigation canals inside residential blocks and using them as roads.
2-Increasing the length of paved streets inside local councils and renovating the damaged ones.
3-Regularly affording maintenance to- and paving- dusty roads and laying down a clear and fair plan for completing paving these roads.
4-Listing main roads that link governorate districts with regional rods that receive a distinguished care.
5-Working for establishing more roads and attempting to establish ring and circular roads around cities to solve the traffic jams.
6-Following up and updating local means of transport and developing stations.
 
Managing Local Resources:
1-Counting state properties inside local councils, demanding a rate of them from the governorate, and rationalizing allocations for projects that have a priority (sewerage- health units- schools- complexes of state bodies).
2-Periodically and realistically updating data bases and activating the role of information and national support centers.
3-Monitoring local funds and revenues local, and directing these resources to projects that have a priority, specially the unemployment problem.
4-Encouraging, facilitating and directing popular efforts for establishing public interest projects with continuous revenues.
5-Using all available resources and local capabilities in creating a real human development inside local councils.
 
Youth Centers:
1-Working for breathing new life into these important bodies and expanding membership in them.
2-Encouraging honorable competition between youth centers inside every unit and centerwide in various sports and cultural fields and in serving society in the local council.
3-Involving youth centers in voluntary projects of the abolition of illiteracy.
4-Making youth centers take part in education campaigns, establishing human development courses and targeted entertainment, training on establishing minor projects, training on using new technology means, self-management, planning, developing handicrafts and technical talents and encouraging creativeness and technology clubs.
5-Holding sports competitions in all sports.
6-Affording efficient and specialized sports coaches to care for training in all activities.
7-Holding cultural and religious competitions.
8-Holding religious, educational and political seminars (making people aware of constitutional and legal rights and duties and social problems).
9-Encouraging artistic creativeness in various aspects (drawing- calligraphy- singing- theatre- poetry) and seeking specialized mentors in these fields.
 
Tackling Social Problems:
1-Contiuously campaigning against dangers of drugs, and allocating days for campaigning against dangers of drugs and smoking.
2-Encouraging young men to seek marriage through organizing mass weddings.
3-Urging good people, businessmen and well-to-do people to establish funds for helping those who can”t afford money to get married.
4-Forming and activating traditional mediation meetings to help solve disputes between citizens.
5-Coordinating with concerned authorities to working for solving problems, fighting negative social aspects and encouraging positive aspects that Islam call for.
 
Preaching, Guidance and Endowments:
1-Seeking an aura of positive coexistence among religions and respecting the other through joint cooperation programs.
2-Cooperating with preaching and guidance institutions to realize objectives of this program, due to religion”s effect on souls.
3-Coordinating to establish education convoys to remote regions and slums in all social issues, and fighting negative and destructive aspects, spreading values of virtue and development, and preserving public resources and cleaning environment.
4-Monitoring the work of the endowments administrations in fields of Da”wa, following up periodical lessons in endowments-affiliated mosques.
5-Encouraging volunteers in religious education and providing them with issues related to local councils, according to specialization of every one.
6-Focusing on Kuttab (religious schools) and holding annual parties to honor Holy Quran memorizers.
7-Preserving houses of worship to carry out of their roles.
8-Calling for restoring Islamic endowments and repaying them according to legal rules.
 
Charities:
1-Monitoring charities and how far they carry out their role in serving the local community, and overcoming obstacles that prevent them from carrying out objectives for which they have been established.
2-Encouraging establishing charities that care for environment and health affairs and activating current ones.
3-Benefiting Zakat committees to tackle social problems (widows- orphans- homeless – handicapped).
 
Drinking Water and Sewerage:
1-Completing bringing drinking water to all deprived regions.
2-Rennovating and consolidating networks in overpopulated regions.
3-Continuously monitoring water distillation plants inside the local unit.
4-Curbing repeated water outage, following up a regular maintenance and seeking solutions for permanent problems.
5-Demanding digging deep wells on main tank of delta to contribute to solving the drinking water problem.
6-Calling for accelerating the implementation of sewerage networks and establishing required distillation water plants in villages.
7-Preventing digging deep wells so that groundwater doesn”t get polluted and tightening supervision on sewerage into waterways.
8-Establishing sewerage projects in every big village.
9-Organizing people”s treatment with sewerage networks.
10-Continuously campaigning for saving water.
11-Cmpaigning against polluting waterways through throwing remains and punishing any one doing this.
 
Construction Planning:
1-Listing intermediate spaces, defining borders of the construction space and cordons of villages and cities, taking into consideration public and citizens” interest during the periodical follow-up of construction plans of villages.
2-Encouraging substitution and renovation operations of old houses and offering incentives.
3-Giving consideration to suitably widening streets during substitution and renovation operations.
4-Calling for increasing vertical rise of buildings in villages to preserve agricultural lands.
5-Internal organization of cities, seeking appropriate places for stations and specific places for pedlars.
6-Directing construction planning programs to benefiting from the desert.
 
The Bread:
1-Tightening local supervision on bakeries to secure a good production of bread.
2-Separating distribution from production and increasing the number of distribution outlets.
3-Working for increasing flour quota of every local unit.
 
Service Facilities:
1-Working for establishing a services complex in every administrative unit to include (post office- subsidies office- civil registry- social unit .. etc).
2-Developing work methods in places of addressing public services.
 
Agriculture and Irrigation

1-Working for regularly bringing irrigation water with appropriate amounts to lands inside the local unit through following up concerned bodies.
2-Cooperating with agricultural societies inside the local unit to make farmers be at home with the optimum agricultural policy and optimum crop structure.
3-Carrying out convoys for agricultural guidance.
4-Continuously campaigning against risks of using insecticides, chemicals and hormones on health and cooperating with educational and religious institutions in this respect.
5-Holding veterinary convoys in various regions to preserve animal and poultry wealth and getting citizens acquainted with latest raising methods.
6-Working for strengthening irrigation network through lining and cleaning canals and allocating budgets for them.
7-Curbing the rural building problem through defining cordons of cities and villages to facilitate building in the desert and new lands and bringing services (roads, water, sewerage) to lands so that building on them becomes easier.
8-Continuously following up distributing farmers quotas of fertilizers, insecticides and seeds.
9-Working for supporting agricultural products and facilitating marketing agricultural products.
10-Campaigning for showing veterinary diseases and protection from them (bird flu and cow tuberculosis).
11-Legalizing seizure of reclaimed lands.
12-Fighting phenomenon of drying lakes and protecting them from pollution, and caring for projects caring for fish wealth.
 
Unemployment:
1-Encouraging non-governmental organizations to establish vocational training courses to qualify the unemployed.
2-The optimum use of the local unit”s funding in productive projects to employ as many jobless as possible.
3-Making feasibility studies for minor projects to spread them among the youth.
4-Benefitting from industrial cities in affording more job opportunities.
5-Affording funds for supporting minor projects.
6-Making programs for vocational training to increase job opportunities and to encourage minor projects.
7-Laying down a map for investment and encouraging curbing unemployment in various regions in a balanced and fair manner, taking into consideration the economic benefits from projects.
8-Tackling problems of unemployment among young men, specially those having degrees, and allocating quotas for young men in agricultural reform projects and new construction societies, and encouraging facilitated lending in the way that encourages the youth start their projects without leading to hurting the allocation of resources.
 
Disaster, Crisis Management:
1-Establishing a fund for disasters to compensate victims.
2-Establishing work groups to deal with emergency crises in cooperation with various authorities.
3-Holding a maintenance to various emergency systems (rescue cars, extinguishers, ambulances,).

Women’s Role

1-In the field of health and environment: giving a priority to reinforcing preventive programs that improves women”s health and increasing women”s awareness about environmental dangers and their repercussions on health of the family members.
2-In the economic field: giving a priority to the problem of poverty and working for reducing poverty and its effects on women, specially in rural areas, through affording appropriate job opportunities and training for women, and expanding establishing minor projects and Family-Run Small Businesses.
3-Putting and implementing a development cultural plan that aims to clarify the right religious concept towards the role of the Muslim woman, the importance of her education and her social participation through seeking help from various social bodies, including feminist societies, clerics, public figures, popular leaders, chiefs of organizations, party officials, the media … etc.
4-Helping women in achieving a balance between their family role and her productive role through affording a group of social services: kindergartens, house services institutions… etc. Studies proved that affording public facilities in poor regions contributed to increasing women”s chances to work full time and part time jobs.
 
This is our program on the level of governorates. We offer it to you, promising Allah- Glorified and Exalted be He- to exert our utmost efforts to achieve your hopes. With you and through your support, hopes and wishes will turn into facts on the ground.
Let”s truly support those on the right track. Let”s do our duty.
Allah is the greatest. Praise be to Allah