Cabinet to intervene regarding martyr mother’s debt

Cabinet spokesperson Hany Salah Eddin said on Sunday that he would meet personally with Hajjah Huwayda, the mother of a young martyr from Sharqiya province, who was sentenced to one year in jail for not paying two electricity bills for her Kiosk, state-owned EgyNews reported.

Salah Eddin added that he would contact the authority concerned with the case, which is the first of its kind to be presented to the newly formed Center for Citizen Complaints, recently launched by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb.

The spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity, Aktham Mohamed Abu Ellah said that the Ministry had contacted the defendant and the case would soon be resolved, EgyNews added.

The defendant's son, Abdalla al-Eraqi, died in January 2011 at the age of 15. His mother was recently unable to pay two electricity bills worth LE6,000.

Huwayda's older son may also face charges for stealing electricity.

The new Center for Citizen Complaints aims to involve citizens in decision-making and advocate on their behalf. 

A Board of Grievances was initially established by Mohamed Ali in the nineteenth century, and was revived under former President Mohamed Morsi in an attempt by the Brotherhood leader to deal with ongoing protests outside the Presidential Palace. It was heavily critiqued as purely a paper exercise with huge bureaucratic processes.