became the laughing stock among nations, with a flawed constitution, subversion of the law, giving supreme powers to an incompetent president backed by a so called parliament filled with cronies and members of his ideological tribe destined to control all matters in Egypt.
Thank God that Egypt woke up before she became terminal and its deterioration became irreversible.
Lacking stability and security ruined tourism on which many Egyptians depended to put bread on the table. Having uncertainty about the future, on top of that, caused foreign investments to dry up. To heal, Egypt needs a period of few years without the drastic unpredictability that she lived in for generations of decay and regression. The change was absolutely necessary but without a solid foundation, the needed and desired forward movement is impossible. Is the democracy that we promised the world to build, dead? I can say emphatically that we are not ready for another drastic change yet. We have to rewrite the constitution, assert the supremacy of law, have a free responsible press, develop mature parties and civic institutions and rid ourselves from the scourges of corruption, inefficiency and bureaucracy.
There is no magic wand that can achieve all of this overnight. Let us ask: what is the alternative?
In my view, we need a term-limited popular benevolent president, a strong government composed of acknowledged technocrats with loyalty only to Egypt and a system of checks and balances. General Abd-El-Fattah El-Sisi fits the first requisite; he is popular; the constitution must have term limits and limited powers. He must retire from the Military and be elected as a civilian president, and he must choose an active civilian vice-president. The government that Egypt has now is the strongest in the recent memory, and is capable to steer Egypt in the right direction, and has to be given a long enough period to do so. Then how about electing the new parliament; let us be honest: How many of the Egyptians who voted knew the individuals that they were voting for? There was no chance to allow those running for election to campaign nor for those casting their votes to know them. That means that the whole exercise was a sham; this is not what true democracy entails.
True democracy is not a charade but a serious consideration. It is far better, for Egypt, to have the chosen fifty individuals who were given the task to study, dissect and approve the new constitution to serve as an Advisory Board to a respectable government than to have a meaningless election. We cannot afford to pretend to do the right thing when we are not. True democracy will take hold in a few years. Egypt’s issues at hand is e to feed, educate and prepare the masses for a bright tomorrow, so that they can tackle the different weighty issues in an informed and deliberate manner.
We should care only about Egypt and its future. Sixty years of autocratic rule and a year by ideological divisive regime had their toll on the brave good Egyptians. They deserve to enjoy the sweetness of a drink from the saucer of love, caring, compassion and belonging to same family as sons and daughters of God and as one family that enjoys the same songs, dance to the same tunes, have the same history, subscribe to the same values, practice the same generosity, partake from the same food, dream the same dreams and display the same warmth towards one another.
Many dysfunctional regimes were elected democratically and they are not living up to their peoples’ potential or aspirations. We will ask for a complete democratic transition (not a spurious one), when our people and political parties are ready for it.
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Lotfy Basta MD, FRCP, FRCPE, FACP, FACC, FCCP, FAHA…
