A Reading of the Egyptian Mr. Sami Enan's Announcing his Running for President

Published in January 20, 2018

Written by: Dr. Othman Ali

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

1- I notice that Mr. Enan admits in his speech that the persons in the police force and the military forces in Egypt supporting him share his view that Egyptians suffer despicable conditions and that he and his supporters are dissatisfied with the policies of the current Egyptian President, Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi.

2- I notice that Mr. Enan admits that the Egyptian economy is suffering in an unprecedented manner and is on the verge of collapse.

3- I notice that Mr. Enan admits that the current Egyptian regime could not protect Egyptian lands (esp. by ceding the two Red-Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, to the KSA), and it could not preserve Egypt's wealth and oil/gas resources in the Red Sea (for the sake of the KSA) and the Mediterranean Sea (for the sake of Israel, Cypress, and Greece) and historical rights regarding the River Nile (for the sake of Sudan and Ethiopia).

4- I notice that Mr. Enan emphasizes in his speech the grave mistakes of the current Egyptian regime that assign all files to the military armed forces without resorting to civil experts.

5- I notice that Mr. Enan talks about the vital importance of the return of the civil State to play its political and economic role in Egypt instead of the military institution controlled directly by the commands of the current Egyptian President. 

6- I notice that Mr. Enan believes in justice and all types of freedom that must be activated in the Egyptian society and how authority is to be divided among the civil State institutions. 

7- I notice that Mr. Enan admits frankly that the Egyptian nation is the source of all authorities and not any rulers/presidents who must respect the will and dignity of the Egyptian citizens.

8- I notice that Mr. Enan stresses the fact that the current regime in Egypt has cared only in establishing projects and edifices instead of upgrading the conditions of citizens and qualifying/educating them.

9- I notice that Mr. Enan has cared to choose civil persons  to help him regarding his presidential campaign.

10- I notice that Mr. Enan has chosen among these civil person Mr. Hisham Guneina – this is a message sent to make the civil society rest assured that Mr. Enan cares for human rights and that if he wins the presidential election, he will combat corruption rampant within all of the institutions of the State.  

11- I notice that Mr. Enan has warned all the Egyptian State civil and military institutions against being biased for the current President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and against other presidential candidates within the election process.

My commentary:

 I am wholeheartedly against the military rule and theocratic rule; but since no other powerful candidates are there from the civil society and civil parties that may be a real rival and competitor to Al-Sisi, whom I wish to see him removed from office, the choice is left to Egyptians between the worse (electing the ex-general Mr. Enan) worst (i.e., re-electing Al-Sisi). Mr. Enan has many redeeming qualities; he has lived within civil society for at least seven years after he resigned from the military forces; he has mingled with the cultural elite who support the civil State, and this means he would not rule Egypt as a military ruler, since he has made this clear in his speech and his choice of those who manage his presidential campaign. In fact, he stresses the return of the civil State and offers solutions to the economic and political dilemmas and he talks about the human rights and dignity of the Egyptian citizens. I congratulate him for his brief yet effective speech whose words are chosen with utmost care (whether he has prepared it himself or not). If someone has prepared it for him, this shows that Mr. Enan heeds pieces of advice, unlike Al-Sisi whose all speeches are filled with mistakes in the language, pronunciation, and choice of words! I sincerely hope that the civil society would not divide its votes within many candidates, a fatal mistake that has occurred in the rigged 2012 presidential election, with dire consequences, as the civil society at the time has lost the chance to support a president from a civil background and had to choose between a president from a military background and a president who belongs to the terrorist Wahabi MB group. I sincerely hope that most Egyptians and the civil society members would vote for Mr. Enan to remove Al-Sisi from office and to prevent his getting a second presidential term, as he is – in my opinion – the worst president ever in Egyptian history; the Egyptian citizens must not lose this chance for the sake of their present and the future of their children and grandchildren.