37
After the peasants completed reclamation of the land, can the government seize and sell the Land!?
The Land Center for Human Rights received dozens of complaints from Sedik EL Minshawi - Dar EL Salaam - Sohag governorate, they were given seven and half acres of land for Reclamation since 1997, lands where given for each university graduate for reclamation, cultivation and agriculture, although they cultivating in very difficult circumstances in the region where there is no hospital or pharmacy, no paved road, no healthy drainage or clean drinking water, no electricity, no bakeries or markets and no available supplies of agricultural production, nor any other means to facilitate their lives or enable them of safe agriculture, which makes their lives living hell and like they are in prison.
Nonetheless, they are farming the land producing food despite the fact that life in this village and the region less described as not human, the complaining farmers were surprised by the General Authority for Land Reclamation issuing its decisions of committing graduates to pay the estimated amount of 17 thousand pounds, considering that there are two acres of the seven and a half acres will sold via the authority as investment, and the authority threatened the graduate owners that in the event they refused to pay this 17 thousand pounds obligation, it will be doubled, and the young graduates will be expelled of their lands, which they reclaimed and turned from desert into agricultural areas and the authority would then sell it to investors.
The complaining land owners assuring the facts that this region is an area of ten thousands of acres, and it had been reclaimed by young graduates then five thousands of acres have been taken back by the authority and distributed among powerful and corrupt people in the same authority, after graduates reclaimed and planted it
It is worth mentioning that the village is located almost more than five kilometers East of Dar EL Salaam city, which is Sixty Five KMS far from the capital city of Sohag, and operating goes back to more than 24 years as part of the desert reclamation project in Sohag for an area of 10 thousands of acres, the project included the establishment of a village on the name of Sheikh Sedik EL Minshawi which included 850 houses to accommodate the young graduates.
2700 acres of land has already been delivered to three hundred and sixty of young graduates divided by 7.5 acres for each graduate, and they are all modern irrigation system (sprinkler and drip), of the total area allocated to the young graduates in addition to homes and 1830 acres given to the ones who are affected of the Law on the relationship between landlord and tenant, 460 acres of small farmers and the rest of the space has been distributed among investors. Despite the fact of thirteen years passage since hand over of land and housing, the area still lacking services which led to migration of young graduates from the village and no complete reclamation of lands, in addition to the growth of the irrigation problems and the inability to pay installments to the Development Bank.
one of the complainants says : "the original agreement when we received the land in 1997 was between us and the fresh graduates authority to pay an annual installment of five hundred and fifty pounds for the house and the land, for 30 years which was suddenly changed by the same authority to be one thousand five hundred and fifty pounds, in addition to ten years of previous installments demanded adding to interest of 14% for each installment, and the speaker wonders from where can they get all this money? And they have made loads of efforts and spent all their money to turn the desert land into cultivation land. Another adding: “these areas of land we have received in exchange for quitting our jobs with the government or private sector, but we were surprised by the problem of water cutting in critical times of plant life, which leads to lack of agricultural production, which caused us to borrow from the banks, associations, and getting bogged down today in payments and we have accumulated debts and interest, in additional to the great disaster when the authority decided that third of the area was calculated as an investment land and we are to be treated as investors by government agencies, despite the deterioration of our condition!! How come that a government body decides to modify terms of an agreement and contract from its side? And what guarantees can we get from the government bodies who are practicing such abuse? "
The land Center wondering for who’s benefit are these practices happening ? and how come Egyptian Citizens get expulsion of their agricultural land after they had paid all what they have to reclaim it? And how did the Ministry of Agriculture amend the terms of the contract and how they were able to hand over theses lands to the investors? This contract included in its terms the prices, payments methods exact location and area size? And what law or code gives the government agencies theses powers of expelling the farmers, and wasting their rights?
Isn’t it the right of those Egyptians to possess their lands and planting it to ensure their economic and social development in these areas? Don’t they have the right of public services delivery to their villages? Clean drinking water, sanitation and electricity to their homes? Is it not right that the state pave roads, build hospitals to allow them to enjoy the resources of our country and ensure public services to areas where they live?
Aren’t those graduates and their families equal to business men in rights ? which all government bodies work to guarantee connection of public services to their tourist compounds and villages, which they actually buy with very few pounds then the prices double hundreds of times as a result of connection of public services !! Who will question the state bodies in disturbing the balance of social justice and equality?
The Center is wondering what the fate of this disregard and infringement of the rights of producers and small farmers in our country and, and for who’s interest is the process of impoverish people and blocking all their income recourses and livelihoods in their faces , specially in light of the current economical crisis, which already wasted the rights of farmers in agriculture, safe and decent work , and it is requires state intervention and support, as all other governments around the world, western and south are currently doing to support their citizens!!
>From the Land Center’s side, the farmers’ complaints were presented to the Minister of Agriculture and the Governor of Sohag to cancel their decision of claiming unjustified amounts of money from the farmers, and the Center appealed to the judiciary to reverse this intransigent and unjust decision.
LCHR calls upon the institutions of civil society and members of the People's Councils and local governorate of Sohag to intervene for protection of the rights of young graduates and their families in the mention Sedik EL Menshawi village, and also demanding the state to apply alternative measures and policies to guarantee protection of the farmers rights in safe agriculture, and decent living.
For more information, please contact the Center.