The Egyptian Tourism Federation on Wednesday threatened to strike on 20 April over the exclusion of tourism sector representatives from the assembly that will draft Egypt’s new constitution.
The federation in a statement Wednesday escalated its criticism of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, which holds a large number of constituent assembly seats. It accused the Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the country’s positions, disregarding the interests of various sectors.
Federation board member Wagdy al-Kerdany said the organization has maintained a patriotic stance and has not forsaken any worker despite the crisis that has hit the tourism sector since last year’s uprising.
Kerdany said the federation had sent more than six letters to the FJP and government officials, urging them to select tourism industry representatives to serve on the constitutional panel, but to no avail.
Saif al-Ammary, the federation’s treasurer, said that during several meetings with the federation, Islamist parties had pledged that tourism workers would be represented on the assembly. He said the incident added to fears that other promises of bolstering tourism would not be kept.
Parliament’s announcement of the constituent assembly members in late March sparked political uproar because of its Islamist-dominated makeup.
Several liberal political parties and secularist figures, as well as Al-Azhar and Coptic representatives, withdrew from the assembly, saying it fails to represent Egyptian society.
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
