MENA House: Solving All of Egypt's Problems

Mohammed Amara from Al Masry al Youm has calculated that the Egyptian Government spends an average of 10 million EGP (Egyptian pounds) for every citizen from the momentof their birth to the moment they take their last breath.

Amari calculates that,  if the average age of an Egyptian citizen is 68.5 years, then the government spends (after calculating some figures) an average of 400EGP a day per citizen.

On Al do’ il ahmar (The Red Light), presenter Ahmed el Meslemani added this comment :

There’s a circulating joke in South America that goes something like this:

The US Government gave a country $1 trillion. The President of this State took half the sum, and gave the rest to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Chancellor of the Exchequer then took a quarter of the half a trillion passed on to him, and he further passed the remainder to the Ministry of Affairs. The Ministry of Affairs had a look at what was given and was pleased! He then took the remainder of the total sum leaving nothing for the people.

And so, to the people, he passed on a kind-hearted message, "The US says hello to you."

Meanwhile, the 1999 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry, Ahmed Zeweil has written in British and Egyptian publications that economic progress in any society can only come about with educational reform. In particular, focusing on the Middle Eastern Region, Dr Zeweil highlights that "'the soft power of modern science, education and economic developments" is essential:

This situation is a timebomb that could be triggered by frustrated youth expressing their despair through national and international violence. Progress in the Middle East is important to the west not only for obtaining natural resources, but also for maintaining an influence in a region that is luring other powers such as China and Russia.

So if every Egyptian citizen receives the 400EGP daily allowance and good quality education, all problems are solved. Or is it really as simple as that?