Once, a lot of people thought that Egypt’s leader, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, would save the country. But now, people see him in a new way.
A decade ago, Egyptians were happy to see the general become the president, but now they are not as happy as they thought they would be.
As Mr Sisi tries to become president for the third time in a row, many people are worried about the bad economy.
Nadia is having a hard time making enough money because Mr. Sisi’s government is making changes to the economy.
The 57-year-old woman has six children and sells newspapers to make ends meet.
Nadia, who lives in a small apartment in a crowded part of Cairo, told me that she hasn’t bought meat in three years. She feels like life is getting more expensive every day.
Nadia is a widow and a mother of six. She sells newspapers in Cairo.
“I get really scared to go to sleep sometimes because I know when I wake up, things will cost more,” she says with a weak smile and sad eyes.
The most recent official numbers show that in October, Egypt’s prices went up by 38. 5%This is a little less than the 40. 3% increase reported last month.
These numbers are very high in the Arab world’s biggest country, and the actual rise in prices that regular people experience is often even higher than what the government says.
‘Nobody remembers us’
But because things cost more, Nadia is making less money.
More than 10 years ago, she used to sell almost 200 newspapers every day, but now she only sells about 20.
Nadia says that making a meal today costs between 300 and 500 Egyptian pounds, but a few years ago it was much cheaper, about a sixth of the price.
“She says that even fruit costs too much. ”
In the last nine months, the Egyptian money has dropped by more than half in value compared to the US money.
The Egyptian economy relies a lot on buying things from other countries. This has made the prices of basic things go up a lot, so many families can’t afford them. People have also started trading foreign money in secret.
Nadia is not feeling very hopeful and seems worried.
“No one cares about the poor. ” She feels like nobody sees us. We are being ignored.
Promises of wealth and success.
Ever since Mr Sisi became president in 2014, a lot of money has been spent on big construction projects. This happened after he led the military to remove the previous president, Mohammed Morsi, from power.
They made the roads bigger and added bridges, and they also built a new capital city near Cairo that cost a lot of money but hardly anyone lives there.
Critics say that being careless with money has used up a lot of the country’s economic resources and caused very high levels of debt that have hurt the economy a lot.
The president’s followers think that building cities has made life better for people and will bring in important money from other countries, leading to better times ahead.
Walid Gaballah, an economist and a member of the Egyptian Society for Political Economy, Statistics and Legislation, thinks that these projects have created jobs and helped to reduce unemployment in Egypt.
He also thinks that global forces are partly responsible for the current economic crisis.
“The money the government saved from their reforms was used for the coronavirus pandemic. ” “Then the war in Ukraine happened and many foreign investors took their money out of Egyptian banks,” he said.
The government has talked a lot about how it’s putting money into programs to help poor and vulnerable Egyptians.
But people are still unhappy about how their lives are getting even harder.
According to official numbers, almost 30 out of every 100 people in Egypt, which has a population of 100 million, live in poverty. Since 2016, the government borrowed over $20 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help with its budget.
At the same time, the government has been making cuts to save money and improve the economy of the country. Many important things no longer have government help, like gas, so their prices are going higher.
Single horse competition
Many Egyptians are unhappy, but there are not many options in this election. It seems like only one candidate will win.
Opposition groups are upset because they can’t work well, because the government is always trying to stop them from speaking out.
Three not well-known politicians are trying to become president but most people think that Mr Sisi will win easily and have another six years in office.
Former MP Ahmed Tantawy was a top contender in the election, but he quit because he didn’t get enough support from the public.
In October, he said that the authorities arrested almost 100 people from his campaign to stop him from running.
Mr Tantawy is being judged for printing and sharing election papers without permission.
Scared to go back home
Human rights campaigners are upset about strict security rules, just like opposition politicians. They say it is getting harder to prove when people are mistreated.
Mina Thabet, an activist living in the UK for almost six years, says that it is risky to fight for human rights in Egypt. He told me this over Zoom.
He still remembers the bad things that happened when he was held in Egypt in 2016. People said he was part of a group that is not allowed and told lies, which is what the government often accuses its critics of.
“I had my eyes covered and my hands tied up. ” A police officer has hit me and said they would take off my clothes and hurt me.
Mr Thabet went to the UK to study one year after he was released. He didn’t want to go home because he was scared he might go back to jail.
“I had a good sleep for the first time after I left Egypt,” he said.
He thinks the election is just a continuation of Mr Sisi’s strict rules, which he says do not allow any opposition.
“Many people in Egypt who stand up for human rights are having their money frozen or being stopped from traveling. ” You can’t do your work without worrying about getting in trouble or being treated unfairly.
MrThabet said he will only go back to Egypt when he feels like it’s safe to work and share his opinions without worrying about the government punishing him.
The people in charge have ignored this criticism because they think it is just about politics.
They created a group that has given permission for many political prisoners to be released, and they plan to do more to make the country’s human rights better.
Local and international human rights organizations say that many people who were put in jail for their political beliefs. The government disagrees with this number.
In Cairo, there are posters of Mr Sisi on every street.
His team is working to show voters that things will get better in the future. But a lot of people here are curious if his winning again would actually make any difference.