Egypt’s President Abdelfattah al-Sisi has vocally expressed his willingness to refuse to eat or sleep until no-one in Egypt lives in a slum.
The suggestion, which presumably is not actually required of anyone in government, came as the General opened a new housing development in the Moqattam area of Cairo. In a speech on the importance of the new development Sisi stressed the strong emotions he felt on contemplating the difficult living conditions of many of Cairo’s poor.
“I can’t sleep or eat or stay happy when there are others not eating or sleeping,” he said. “The nation is all the people of the country, and it is up to all of us, me, my neighbors, colleagues, all who are here and there and in every part of Egypt to put our hands together.”
“If it was requested of us to not eat until nobody lived in a slum we’d do it!” the General continued.
Sisi has made a priority of addressing the poor conditions of Cairo’s slums. Last year, Egypt’s planning ministry allocated one billion EGP ($130 million) to the development of urban slum areas. It’s estimated that between 40% and 65% of Cairo’s population live in unregulated, substandard housing developments that have evolved quickly around the city, particularly during the years of lawlessness that followed the revolution.
The new purpose-built housing units will replace estates in other areas, whose residents will be forcibly transferred to new housing. The endeavour is part of a larger housing project, Hayy al-Masarat, which will be built at a cost of $170 million.
Sisi, who added that other senior politicians were also suffering whenever he contemplated the slums, said that the problem would be solved over the next two years.
“It’s not right for this to remain when we are here, and the government and ministers are able to solve this matter,” he said.
