تقدير مصري

The fourth pyramid الهرم الرابع

Each of the great pharaohs of Egypt had monuments constructed in the form of temples, pyramids or tombs that can be identified with his reign, the most famous of these being the three pyramids of Geeza. With end of the era of the great pharaohs and their dynasties the building of these monuments died out and the sands of time turned the once great edifices into the archeological wonders we see today. From the time of Cleopatra there were no rulers who left an enduring mark on Egypt until the great Mohamed Ali Pasha, some two centuries ago. The Pasha’s goal was to establish Egypt as a powerful European-Style state and he nationalized Egypt leaving his finger print on many beneficial developments, especially in agriculture, and under his rule the country’s water and irrigation system was developed.

In the 1950’s, under the rule of President Jamal Abdul Nasser, the Aswan dam was constructed across the Nile changing the agriculture and improving the way of life of  Egyptians forever thereby making Nasser’s legacy to his country. Then President Sadat paved the way for three decades of peace with Israel and the peace treaty between the two countries is always linked to Sadat’s name.

President Mubarak announced that he would build ‘a fourth pyramid’ in Egypt, and by doing so his ambition of becoming one of the great leaders of the Nile valley. This outstanding construction was to be the Toshka project by which water from Lake Nasser would be pumped through a 30 Km channel to irrigate the great desert to the south west of the Nile. This development was hailed as the savior of Egypt, the means of ensuring that the food baskets food of Egypt, and the Arab world, would be filled, and provide the job opportunities for the great numbers of Egypt’s young unemployed. Instead Arab landgrabbers bought hundreds of thousands acres of the land targeted by the project at the cheap price of 10$ an acre and the establishment of a research station near the Aswan dam. I saw this posh research station and many others like it in other Arab countries, each supposed to help with improving food production, yet achieving little if anything.

The cost of food in the Middle East is always rising and the countries of the region are heavily dependent on imported food. The cost of the Toshka project was astronomical and the media hype for this ‘fourth pyramid’, the great achievement of President Mubarak, was beyond tolerance. Now, the Attorney General of Egypt is taking a particular interest in the mismanagement of the Toshka land and one wonders what mark in Egypt’s history will eventually be attributed to Mubarak.

Changing times in Egypt

The television news yesterday showed the sons of Egypt’s ex-president Mubarak being taken to Toura prison in south east Cairo. The prison is adjacent to a large cement factory that sends clouds of dust pollution into it vicinity but it is not far from the outskirts of the affluent suburb of Maadi where I had lived for many years. I soon found myself reflecting on the changes that the last few months have brought to Egypt.

 Mrs. Suzan Mubarak was a frequent visitor to Maadi’s library and orphanage as she was a patron of both and as a resident of Maadi I regularly saw the preparations for her regular visits. Each visit was heralded by the arrival of large numbers of municipalian trucks carrying potted plants and flowers that were used to line the streets. Maadi is a very green area but nevertheless the plants were brought in to add more colour and a few minutes after Mrs Mubarak’s car had driven away the trucks followed her entourage, stopping en route to collect the plants from the streets and leaving Maadi to go back to normality.

When Mubarak travelled to his home, to the airport to receive dignitaries or for any reason at all the streets were lined on each side by thousands of armed policemen who stood 2-3m apart with their backs to the road while marksmen could be seen on the rooftops of high rise buildings, all to ensure his safety. My office in FAO was situated in Dokki where some of the ministerial buildings where and the movement of ministers with their escorts etc regularly aggravated the already chaotic Cairo traffic. It was also impossible to walk along the pavements in front of the buildings of the ruling party. Now I understand that over 300 of these buildings have been burnt out.

 Throughout their history the Egyptians maintained a respect for authority, indeed it was not uncommon to hear someone call a policeman ‘Pasha’, and we are now seeing TV images of those who were recently in authority wearing the white dress of prisoners. How times have changed.

I have been told that crime in Egypt has increased in the last two months and that life is somewhat chaotic there. I was in Egypt a week before the revolution started and during the frequent taxi journeys I took I talked to the drivers and listened to what they had to say about the changes that had taken place in the last year or so, taxi drivers are the most accurate source of information’s all through the third world.  They talked about many things but their greatest concern was the rising costs of food. By the end of last year the cost of a kilo of tomatoes (Oota) reached 10- 15EGP and I could recall when the price had been a half to one  of an Egyptian pound, two three years ago. A kilo of meat cost 80EGP on average yet it had once been, few years, possible to buy top quality meat in the supermarkets of Maadi for 12-20 EGP a kilo.

 The average wage of a policeman is under 200 EGP, not the 500EGP that some say that it is the official minimum wages, and the black uniformed central security policeman is paid 100-200 EGP a month plus a daily ration of 2-3 pieces of bread made from coarse flour, one or two spring onions and, if he is lucky, some Tameih of Fool.  How can a man be expected to feed himself and a family on such a salary?

While the situation that has led to revolt in Libya is very different, rising food prices, inter alia, were major contributing factors to the revolution and the overthrow of Mubarak, but we shall have to wait and see if food prices or other matters now improve. However it is already certain that this year will see a huge investigation, involving many cases, into corruption involving agricultural land.

The Egyptians are a very friendly people, with great scense of humour, who have been the victims of their rulers and we can but wish Egypt and her people all the best for their future.