Two years after the revolution that toppled a dictator, Egypt is already a failed state. According to the Failed States Index, in the year before the uprising, we ranked No. 45. After Hosni Mubarak fell, we worsened to 31st. I haven't checked recently — I don't want to get more depressed. But the evidence is all around us.
Today you see an erosion of state authority in Egypt. The state is supposed to provide security and justice. But law and order is disintegrating. In 2012, murders were up 130 percent, robberies 350 percent and kidnappings 145 percent. You see people being lynched in public while others take pictures.
You can't expect Egypt to have a normal economic life under such circumstances. People are worried. People who have money are not investing — neither Egyptians nor foreigners. When you don't see institutions performing their duties, when you don't know what will happen tomorrow, obviously you hold back. As a result, Egypt's foreign reserves have been depleted; the budget deficit will be 12 percent this year, and the pound is being devalued. Roughly a quarter of our youths wake up in the morning and have no jobs to go to.
So far, the Egyptian government has offered only a patchwork vision and ad hoc economic policies, with no steady hand at the helm of the state. The government adopted some austerity measures in December to satisfy certain IMF requirements, only to repeal them by morning. Meanwhile, prices are soaring, and the situation is becoming untenable, particularly for the nearly half of Egyptians who live on less than $2 a day.
The executive branch has no clue how to run Egypt. It's not a question of whether they are Muslim Brothers or liberals — it's a question of people who have no vision or experience. They are simply not qualified to govern.
We in the opposition have been urging President Mohammed Morsi and company for months that Egypt needs a government that is competent and impartial. We need a broad-based committee to amend the Egyptian Constitution, which pretty much everyone agrees falls short of ensuring a proper balance of power and guaranteeing basic rights and freedoms. And we need a political partnership between the other established parties — including those with an Islamic orientation — and the Muslim Brotherhood, which represents probably less than 20 percent of the country. Unfortunately, these recommendations have fallen on deaf ears.
The Brothers are also losing badly because, despite all their great slogans, they haven't been able to deliver. People want food on the table, health care, education, all of that. The Brotherhood doesn't have the qualified people, who hail mostly from liberal and leftist parties. You need to form a grand coalition, and you need to put your ideological differences aside and work together to focus on people's basic needs.
You can't eat sharia.
