President Mohammed Morsi is compromising his popularity rates by not delineating his administration's priorities and for not saying clearly how these priorities will be set in motion. A string of recent tragic mishaps should send an urgent message to Morsi that overhauling the country's infrastructure brooks no further delay. Since taking office in June as Egypt's first elected President, Morsi, an engineering professor by profession, has seen the country's socioeconomic situation become more precarious. In just two months, 70 people, including 51 schoolchildren, have been killed in train crashes – tragedies that could have been averted, had due attention been given to formulating steps to upgrade the country's ageing rail service. Other public services such as healthcare, security, housing and education are in a state of decay too. At least 12,000 people die and 40,000 others are injured every year on the nation's roads, according to official figures, giving Egypt one of the world's worst safety records. In Alexandria, where a recent collapse of a residential building left 28 people dead, there are 14,000 rundown tenements, according to the city's Governor, Mohammed Atta. These buildings only represent a small percentage of the apartment blocks constructed without permits around the nation. They could come tumbling down upon the heads of their residents at any moment. Morsi's Government and allies, apparently trying to deflect criticism from the opposition, argue that the after-effects of 30 years of Hosni Mubarak's misrule cannot be erased in just a few months. Yet with death lurking on the nation's roads, aboard rickety trains, inside inefficient public hospitals and within countless ramshackle homes, this argument becomes increasingly unconvincing. This rationale would have been tenable had a well-considered plan been made public about the Government's priorities and how they would be fulfilled – even if only gradually. Appalled by the spike in deadly incidents, Egyptian cynics have updated the famous slogan of the anti-Mubarak revolt from ‘Bread, Freedom and Social Justice' to ‘Bread, Freedom and Natural Death'! Each and every Egyptian is aware of the bitter legacy of corruption and neglect left behind by the Mubarak regime. We know what the disease is, as well as its symptoms and causes. But is there a cure-all? To many Egyptians, there is not much difference between the official responses to tragic incidents during the Mubarak years and since his ousting. Senior officials keep dishing out promises that things will improve. But, as one catastrophe after the other has conspicuously shown, these promises are empty. The situation is going from bad to worse. Hatem Abdel Latif, recently named as Transport Minister, last week admitted that 80-85 per cent of the train carriages operated by the national railway service have gone beyond their lifespan and should be decommissioned. The bulk of these carriages are used by millions of poor commuters every day. According to the same official, more than 50 per cent of the rail accidents occur at level crossings. (In November, 51 schoolchildren died when their bus was hit by a train at a rail crossing in Assiut, Upper Egypt.) Is it so very difficult to improve the safety standards at these crossings? Many other countries heavily depend on trains in transporting people and goods. They have not witnessed tragedies like Egypt's. Following last week's train crash in Badrasheen, southwest of Cairo, the Government pledged urgent allocations to meet the immediate needs of the rail service. Shouldn't this money have been provided earlier, given that the Egyptian rail service, the world's second oldest, has long been notorious for inefficiency and recurrent accidents? President Morsi and his Government should not allow political wrangles over coming parliamentary elections and the Constitution to distract them from their main duty – making life better and safer for the people. They have to outline their priorities to revamp the country's infrastructure facilities and pour into them the biggest possible slice of the State budget. Non-governmental donors should be encouraged to chip in. The ordinary people, worn out by futile political bickering, need to be given hope that Egypt will get better in the short term. Action, not words or scapegoating, is the best way to reassure Egyptians that their two-year-old revolution is on the right track.
