Saturday, February 27, 2016

Al Sisi .. Confidence and Doubts !

“ The good people of Egypt have suffered and have not found any response to their woes and troubles, and this casts a moral obligation on the armed forces to answer the demands of that people who will do anything if shown the proper amount of attention and support.”

Those were the words of the Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s to the Egyptian people on the first of July 2013 in an official statement delivered by the military spokesman through the Egyptian Mainstream Media and Newspapers.

Although it was an official Military Statement, Those words emotionally moved a lot within the conscience of millions of Egyptians who have lost confidence in their leadership, and all those who claimed to work for them. A confidence that these words dramatically and rapidly restored to an extent where those millions rushed into the streets of the major cities to declared their support for the man, and their willingness to walk the hard path and overthrow the regime of the Muslim Brotherhood and Mohamed Morsi.

In a strong continuation of the people’s decision to maintain their confidence in Al-sisi, they delegated him the full authority and power to fight terrorism in Sinai Peninsula Desert and to restore civil peace in the urban areas that were disturbed by Militant Groups violence and criminal acts. They also selected him as their new elected president in June 2014 with more than 95% of the total votes. In that context,  they surprisingly and in a completely unprecedented event,  bought all the Initial Public Offering stock certificates to sponsor his proposed Suez Canal Project, reaching a total amount of 60 Billion Egyptian pounds ( c10 Billion US$) in less than a week.

It is beyond all doubts that in the later months, the man spared no time or effort in hand to take advantage of that momentum to start building the foundations of the economic renaissance of Egypt.

In his quest to bring more and fresh blood into the arteries of the Egyptian Trade and Industrial Sector, he made rapid actions towards the completion of the project of the Suez Canal Axis, launched fast track projects to increase the efficiency of the national roads and transportation network, and started the huge transformation of the national power network through shifting to nuclear power stations and unconventional solar and wind power projects.

To find the necessary and vital funds and expertise to execute these ambitious projects, the man smartly took the initiative to invite all the concerned governments and international industrial giants to participate in Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, A forum that did not only widely open new horizons for the economic future of Egypt, but also granted the international political recognition for the new regime.

However, it seems that this story-line kept a couple of bad and nasty scenes for us!

Although the man made it crystal clear that he has no due payments for any party inside or outside Egypt except for the people,  and that he will give all the authority and the power for the young and new generation who made two revolutions against suppression and fascism , it is quite notable that he still maintains considerable recognition and appreciation towards those who worked with him during Mubarak’s Era, and those who provided him with political and mass media support against the Muslim Brotherhood regime afterwards.

As an expression of that recognition, the man granted the right of decision-making and strategic planning for those old fellows.  Being part of the old regime and with obsolete thoughts inside mummified brains, those fellows were nothing but a heavy burden. A fact that ultimately obliged the man to perform all the roles of the play at the very same time, a president, a prime minister, and a chief of diplomacy!

The Young Generation presence was limited to pretty girls “selfies” with the president!

One of the man’s greatest slips, in my opinion, was his approach to create a unified internal front against terrorism and alleged conspiracies through reducing the gaps between Egyptian political rivals and ideologies. An approach that, intentionally or not, ignored the significant and vital difference between “Unity” and “Unilateralism”!

Following the man’s vision and approach, a former Military Intelligence officer and a newly elected member of the Egyptian (One Chamber) Parliament, declared a united front inside the parliament.  Out of the 568 members of the parliament, that person claimed that he managed to recruit 400 members for “ Egypt’s Support Coalition”, a coalition that was intended to support an “ Egyptian Modern State “, without providing any reference to the type and mechanism of that support, or a proper definition of that “ State” !

To emphasize the alignment of that coalition with Al-Sisi’s vision, the coalition members signed a document confirming abandonment of their party affiliation, ideological beliefs, and political positions!  The positions that they were voted for, and elected upon !

Most of the Egyptians, and many of the political parties could not interpret such an action as nothing but an unmistakable attempt to unify voices and restore the fascism of Hosni Mubarak’s National Democratic Party (NDP), which was dissolved after the 25 January 2011 revolution.

My belief is that these two scenes were the major factors that undermined and strongly weakened the trust between Al-Sisi and the Egyptians, a fact that is slowly and steadily emerging in Egypt.

Overwhelmed by plotting long-term plans to fulfill the requirements of the long awaited Egyptian Renaissance, and working on defining what is good for all Egyptians in a twenty years’ time, the man was too busy to notice how his government failed to achieve the minimum acceptable level of life quality in terms of average income, quality of public schools education, efficiency of health services, and the most important of all, the behavior of the security forces at both of personal and structural levels.

It is no secret that it would only cost you the fees of a taxi ride around Cairo, or a short trip in its underground to listen to Egyptian chats about their suffering of the high rates of public transportation cost, the continuous increase in electricity and domestic water monthly bills, the lack of the essential subsidized cheap food supplies at the governmental outlets, the lack of a proper public education services, the inefficiency of the public health and medical services, and the increasing number of police and security forces violations and brutality against civilians.

These could be easily added to the more complex concerns of the Egyptian economic experts about the conflict between the very recent Central Bank of Egypt’s regulations and procedures, and Al-Sisi’s continuous efforts to attract foreign investments, and create a regional industrial and commercial hub. Those procedures that prevent the investors to transfer their profits outside the country, and ironically apply the very same rules for those who import heavy industrial production machines and those who import ornamental fish aquariums!

However, and like many others who believe in the man’s patriotism and love for Egypt, I still have enough confidence in Al-Sisi’s ability to guide Egypt out of the dark tunnel. But this requires me to remind him that the future will not be built by a parliament that is dominated by a single vision, and that supports a traditional and obsolete government that waits for instructions, and anticipates reward in return!

The Future will only show up in a country where the parliament is truly representing the people, truly reflecting the diversity of cultures and beliefs of this great nation, and powerfully granting the vote of confidence for an eligible government.

A government that is capable of making and applying long-term sustainable development plans ..

A government that can wisely utilize the limited Foreign-Exchange Reserves to develop the unlimited human and natural resources of Egypt ..

A government that is run by people of Science, Modern Knowledge, Experience, Future Vision, and Ability to Make Decisions ..

A government that applies the Law without exceptions, and respects the values of Freedom, Social Justice, and Civil rights ..

A government that prepares and enhances the appropriate atmosphere required to create and develop political and social entities, and that accepts criticism and disagreement..

A government that is fully aware of the inevitability of developing and implementing strict and effective actions against monopolies, domination of national resources, and corruption..

A government that does not tickle the dreams of the people with cheerful and deceiving front-page headlines, but rather sets Specific, Measurable, Achievable, and Realistic objectives that people can feel their impacts within a proper and acceptable period of Time ..

When the man assigns such a government to help him fulfill his promises to the people, and when he realizes that only roman gods are meant to control everything by themselves, he will be in a better position to work with less pressures and more control over his anger and rage against those who criticize his performance.

Only then, he will be able to regain the full trust and confidence of the Egyptian people, the trust that I am sure is not completely lost, but definitely and seriously damaged.

No comments:

Post a Comment