Yaay! The Goose is Kicked to the Curb!

This is the first good news item I've heard so far this year. The reformers of the high council of El Wafd took the unexpected initiative to sack the crony No'man Gomaa from his leadership position of the historic liberal party. With a vote of 34 of the 40 members of the high council, it was decided that he would be replaced by Mahmoud Abaza who will lead the party for a period of 60 days until elections for the leadership will be officially held.

The crony Gomaa responded in expected dictatorial character, calling on thugs to interrupt the high council in their meeting room and inviting the government police to surround the party headquarters, "preventing people, including journalists, from going in or coming out", according to Al Ahram Weekly:


"Abaza was angry about the police presence. "In the morning," he said, "the police allowed Gomaa's thugs into the party headquarters, and now they won't even allow the party's own members in. What does that mean?" Abaza said the police appeared to be taking sides in an internal party matter.

...The main complaint against Gomaa was that he was running the Wafd like his own personal fiefdom. "We are all sad that things took this ugly turn," Abaza said, "when all we wanted was for the leadership of the party to be collective again. We are saying that the Wafd is a historic party, and that one day we will rule the country. But we can't do this when we are in fact ruled by one man."

This, ladies and gentleman, is the future party of the Egyptian people. However, it is for this very reason that this matter will not simply end here, as the government will do everything it can to prevent the emergence of the Wafd, via its cronies Gomaa and his goons:

"A Gomaa supporter argued that the matter was not as serious as Abaza made it seem. "This is a simple dispute that will not affect the party itself; mark my words: things will be back to normal in a few days," said Mahmoud El-Saqqa, a member of the party's parliamentary committee. El-Saqqa claimed that Gomaa was willing to reach a compromise with Abaza and his supporters to calm matters down."

Gomaa must be one incredibly dastardly man. He knows that the absolute majority of the Wafd's leaders and members can't stand him, yet he is still desperately and shamelessly still clinging on to the party's leadership with his teeth. This next part is very funny:

"Another Gomaa supporter, Samir Wahba, the general secretary of the party's Al Daqahliya branch, said the decision to remove Gomaa was illegitimate because it falls under the jurisdiction of the party's general, rather than supreme, committee.

Abaza said the committee's decision had been forwarded to the Political Parties Committee, along with a videotape of an interview Gomaa gave to a satellite channel, in which the former chairman indicated that it is the supreme committee's right to withdraw confidence from him if it sees fit to do so."

I wonder how the Goose will try to wiggle his way out of this one, LOL.

I am very hopeful that the Wafd will emerge very strong after this shakeup in its ranks. However, it all depends ultimately on the character and leadership of its new bosses, and on their ability to out-maneuver the party from the future traps that will be set for it by the government. Masr el yom fi eid:-)