CAIRO: How the government has performed in light of recent events, such as the outbreak of bird flu in the country and the ferry disaster in February, has people talking. The government has been ridiculed, both in local and international press, for its handling of certain situation, with the most notable being its reaction to pro-reform protests.
The Daily Star Egypt took to the streets to ask people their opinions on the best and worst decisions taken by the government over the past year.
I actually can t remember a good decision taken by the government over the last year. The bad decisions are the ones that stay in my memory, from irregularities in the elections to the bad reaction to disasters, like the sunken ship and the avian flu. The worst was the reaction to the judges and those who supported them. It made people hate this government. I am not trying to say it’s a bad government, but I am saying that we should reevaluate the whole Egyptian system.Ahmad, student
The best decision taken was the president’s promise to raise salaries, especially physicians’ and engineers salaries. My son is a young physician and his salary is LE 300; it is less than his pocket money when he was a student. On the other hand, the worst decision was the reaction to the bird flu outbreak. In less than two months following the announcement of the avian flu the egg reached 60 piasters, instead of 35. Also, no one is eating chicken anymore. I am sure there was a better way to deal with the situation.Nahed, civil servant
The best decision was changing the constitution. Now we can choose our president from many people instead of saying only yes or no. The worst was how that change happened. They put very strict conditions for those who want to be a candidate for the presidency. What if nobody fulfills these conditions? Will we go back to the yes or no era?Ahmad, physician
There were some good decisions, but most of them were not clear to the people. Egypt has developed more over the last decade than any optimistic could have imagined. For instance, we used to suffer a lot when we tried to make an ordinary phone call, but now everyone has a cell phone. But there were also some bad decisions, especially in dealing with disasters. We lack the mentality and way of thinking in dealing with unexpected accidents. Samy, lawyer
Decreasing the rate on the Egyptian pound and raising it on the U.S. dollar was a very bad decision. It destroyed the pound. We should convince people that we have a strong currency, but they are sure now that the Egyptian pound is of no value even in Egypt, while the US dollar is always sought after.Mahmoud, physician
There were some good decisions, like decreasing duty on imported cars and separating the cleaning fare from the electricity bill. But on the other hand, there were a series of bad decisions. We used to get electric cupper wires to supply a 5 storey building for LE 32,000. A few months ago I went down to buy it only to find out that it has reached more than LE 60,000, and the excuse was the cupper price has increased. There was no action from the government toward such a raise. How can I expect good thing from such a government.Yasser, engineer
The views expressed in Word on the Street do not necessarily reflect the views of The Daily Star Egypt.
