Briefly.
Please take a look at below chart in regards poverty in Egypt, dating back to the year 2000. The most devastating and revealing aspect of the chart is not that the number of Egyptians in poverty has increased from 10.6 to 22.1 millions; no, it is that the percentage of Egyptians in poverty has increased from 16% to 26% of the population!?!?!?! The chart is produced by none other than the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) (الجهاز المركزي للتعبئة العامة والإحصاء), the official statistical agency of Egypt that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates all statistical data and the census.
Considering the available resources for Egypt, taking into account that Egyptians are quality people, and understanding the existing body of knowledge and wealth of information in regards poverty issues, policies, plans and strategies, this is utterly unacceptable.
Reducing poverty should be the top priority of any government. Reducing poverty lifts people into middle class, generating more contributors to the country's productivity, its GDP, and in turn improving the country's socio-economic status, making progress possible on all fronts. For starters, progress in the administration of the country's various governments, national and local; progress in its institutions, including the army which is Egypt's most dominant institution; progress in the quality of its peoples' assembly, its courts and internal security apparatus; progress in dealing with its failing health and education systems; progress in addressing its entrenched corruption culture.
This is NOT inexplicable, this should NOT be forgivable, we need to heed history's lessons, take a look back at all the numerous promises made by countless administrations since 1952 and ask: What was delivered? Were the obstacles real or imagined? Were the impediments imposed from without or inflicted from within?
Above all, we need to do a much better vetting of our leaders. Their track record, now dating back generations, is horrendous. Officials and authorities, from the President on, need to decide, before taking office, if they have the competency, the capacity and the intent to make a difference; with consequences for the erroneous decisions made clear to them. Officials and authorities, from the President on, should be held accountable at all times, they should be made to understand that the main and only purpose in accepting a government post or a powerful position in public service is not to acquire wealth, fame, power and an enhanced reputation they can parlay into lucrative positions and deals once they leave office, but to add value and affect change into a challenging situation.
Please take a look at the chart and ponder: When will Egypt put forth the right caliber of leaders, principled leaders with built-in ethics and morality?
Hussein
