I wish people in charge of regaining state lands can publish,
along with the number of feddans, kirats[1], ashom[2]
and square meters, the names of those gentlemen who practiced “adverse possession”
over these lands. This “adverse possession” term is the nickname for looting,
robbery, stealing, greed, opportunism… to the rest of the same kind characters…
now dear reader, you have the right to ask me mocking: why then do you call
them gentlemen?... I quickly answer: because the list that was leaked out or
published includes names whom I long met some of and shake hands while
standing, sometimes nod my head a little, or use words like Mr. or Your excellency!!
This kind of humans possess “outstanding” qualities
that are not provided in others like us of the very common people whose best
wishes is to sustain their basic needs and pay back their debts… of those “extraordinary”
qualities, their ability to quickly switch from one table to another,
especially those tables of ruling and authority… also wearing the right mask
over their faces according to the character required; meaning that if they are
required to look powerful, tyrant and authoritarian, they frown, raise the tip
of their eyebrows and glare at you with fire-firing eyes… and if they are
required to look humble, philanthropic and kind to the poor, they relaxed their
eyelids and batted calmly over you… and so on in every field… but as to their strongest
characters, it is their dead heart, dealing with “difficulties” and punishing
anyone who may imagine he can stand in their way even with a word… exactly like
big professional gangsters do.
I wish those lists can be published in details
including the name, nickname, age, social status, network of kins and in-laws,
nature of activity, starting date of this activity along with the social level
that they had when they started and the wealth they then had, then record of
the accumulation history of this wealth, and how disciplined they are in their commitment
to meet their obligations and duties towards the state and society.
The secret lying behind providing all these data is
that the society should know how spread and deep this corruption and collusion
is in the time span extending from 1967 to date… I say 1967 because it is the
date president Sisi has already hinted at as the start of disintegration of the
state power and authority… also so that all people can practically know what
happened and how did it happen from 1967 to 1970… from 1970 to 1981… from 1981
to 2011… from 2011 to 2013… and from 2013 until our present time.
I affirm I am not about to talk about the time from
1967 to 1970; meaning from 1967 defeat… war of attrition… and death of Nasser…
despite I have what to say… however, I – and many others – are seeking the
truth away from forging or fear.
Those culprits who stole, looted and made enormous
fortunes are not only those who stole the lands… but along with them are the employees
and those in positions of responsibility who colluded with them and made it
easier for them to steal… those too made fortunes out of corruption.
Just to remind you, the collective memory of our
society has and will never drop two famous sayings for two presidents… first of
them was Sadat who said: “Egypt became expensive… meter square in downtown
Cairo is now sold for 700 pounds”… the second was Mubarak who used to ask the
question “is his alibi ready or not?” whenever he was told that so-and-so is
accused of corruption.
Now I move from what I think are details to what I believe
is the main issue; that is the nature and dimensions of the fight Egypt is
going through right now under the leadership of president Abdel-Fattah as-Sisi…
especially that I write those lines while I am following the opening ceremony
of the project of the new furniture city in Damietta… and the massive efforts
exerted by armed forces men and others of Egypt’s sons who keep working day and
night.
The main issue is the response to the challenge of
existence… again I repeat… our very own existence… biological… social… cultural
and civilization existence of the Egyptian people… such response became clear, continuing
and promising to achieve victory… because the armed terrorism that kills and
destroys in the name of God is not the only one threatening the Egyptian existence
on all those levels… as our biological existence as living creatures became
threatened by deadly diseases that evolved from Schistosomiasis and others to
kidney and liver failure, killing viruses, road accidents, quality of food… also
our social, civilization and cultural existence became threatened by
unemployment, slum areas, family breakdown and ugliness that spread everywhere…
not to mention illiteracy of different levels, ignorance, collapse of
educational and health services… and other problems.
Unfortunately – or one may say it is the tragedy that
we alone are dogged by – those who looted the country and stole its very
fundamental assets; land… and also escaped fulfilling the state rights – I won’t
say their social and ethical duties that are inseparable of the Islamic or
Christian faiths – are the spear head in this dangerous terrorism… as such kind
of terrorism has the same target of the armed terrorism; meaning to undermine
and destroy the Egyptian state… in my opinion, this is not an easy fight…
actually, it is more difficult that the fight against armed terrorism as the armed
forces and police will not be able to adopt the same techniques they have
towards gangs of extremism… and any media or cultural entity will not be able
to stand against the war of rumors, defamation, forging the truth and messing
with the people awareness that makes use of the economic circumstances.
We can imagine how devastating it is when those
working relentlessly day and night and who do what no one else can do in the specified
time scope and quality find themselves surrounded by an atmosphere filled with skepticism,
defamation, forged truth and false damaging criticism.
Actually, I, like other, do not claim to have the
quick successful prescription that determines how to face this horrible crime
except using the tools we have in our hands to serve our role in such fight… working
hard to connect spots of resistant action on all levels and orientations… and
praying for God to help our country achieve more and more.
We shall continue talking later about what seems to be
campaigns related to the issue of democracy and coming presidential elections
while in my opinion they are related to what is more comprehensive and
dangerous.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This article was published in
Al Ahram newspaper on May 25, 2017.
To see the original article,
go to:
#alahram #ahmed_elgammal
#Egypt #fighting_corruption
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