Disenchanted, they have picketed outside the Premier's home for almost a week now. On Friday, they started an open-ended sit-in. Their demand is for the Government to keep its promise and give them jobs. Apparently seeking to draw attention, scores of holders of master's and doctoral degrees did on Thursday what many protesters do nowadays in Egypt �" they blocked the street and disrupted the traffic. But this was too much for the Government. It couldn't stand seeing the street of Prime Minister Hesham Qandil in the upmarket quarter of Doqqi being blocked. Scores of anti-riot police were rushed to the area to remove the protesters and re-open the street for traffic. Unfazed, the demonstrators camped out at a park near the Premier's house, vowing to stay until their demand is met. They carried placards reading: ‘A PhD holder, but jobless'; and ‘Oh Morsi, where's the promised change?' As was the case in the Mubarak era, the Government opts to task the police with handling problems, created by its own mismanagement and lack of transparency. The Qandil Government has failed to grasp the fact that the police have yet to recover from their near-collapse during the revolt against Mubarak. There is still a lot of mistrust between the public and the police, who were notorious for oppression in the Mubarak era. Involving the police in confrontations with protesters, especially high-achieving university graduates, is yet another mistake by the Government, which is perceived as wishy-washy, if not incompetent. Successive short-lived governments, which have taken office since Mubarak's toppling, have failed to show far-sightedness or sound planning. Faced with a wave of labour protests, these governments have lavishly pledged to provide permanent jobs for thousands of casual workers at State institutions, which are bursting at the seams with the employees they already have. The promises are increasingly hard to keep as an economic crunch bites, so the cash-strapped Government must drop obsolete policy and start thinking out of the box. It should work earnestly to provide favourable conditions for an inflow of local and foreign investments that will create real jobs for the people, including the well-educated protesters camping outside the Premier's home.
