CAIRO - In just a couple of weeks President Mohamed Morsi will complete his first year as Egypt's first elected President after the January 25 Revolution. Many Egyptians see that Morsi has not achieved anything for the country's future so they no longer want him as their president, while others see him as the perfect ruler for Egypt. The two sides (some opposing and some supporting) have decided to peacefully protest on June 30, the day, which marks Morsi's first anniversary in power. A handful of activists have managed to launch a campaign called Tamarad (Rebel); they are collecting signatures to express ‘no confidence' in President Mohamed Morsi. They have already succeeded in collecting about 13 million signatures, less than 15 per cent of the population. This campaign co-operating with several political powers and movements called for peaceful demonstrations in front of the Ithadyia presidential palace on June 30 against the President to force him to step down and hold early presidential elections. "Actually I don't know where the President's achievements through the whole year are? I didn't notice any development since he became Egypt's President," Mayada Ahmed, 25, said. "One year is enough to improve the country or even to start improving," she added. Mayada, who had just signed the Tamarad petition, said that all the Egyptians should get down to the streets on June 30 to express their opinion and rejection of the President and the Muslim Brotherhood performance in general. However, Assem Abdel Maged, a leading member of the Islamist Al-Jamaa Al-Islamyia and the co-ordinator for Tagarad (impartiality) movement, which aims at countering the "Rebel" movement, seeks to gather support for a confidence vote in favour of President Mohamed Morsi. "Those who call for the demonstrations against the president are thugs and remnants of the old regime," Abdel Maged said. "So we will stop them in any way from toppling the president," he added. Many of the Muslim Brotherhood's members spread calls to demonstrate in support of the legitimacy of Morsi's four-year term. They have decided to start their massive rally on June 28. Ahmed Aref, the MB's spokeman, said that the government is trying to exert effort to improve living conditions before Ramadan (the Islamic holy fasting month, which falls on July 10 this year), in a bid to enhance the economic situation in Egypt and help calm citizens down. "Morsi should be given a complete chance as the first elected President after the Revolution," Amr Mohamed, 23, said. "When Morsi came as the President, there were many issues in Egypt that needed repair, and cannot be resolved in just one year," he added. He said that the President has a plan to be applied during his four-year term, so the people should wait until the president finishes his tenure after three years and then judge him. Meanwhile, Hamdeen Sabahi, the founder of the Popular Current and a key member in the National Salvation Front, said that Egyptians should complete their revolution by getting down to the streets on June 30, refusing to have another pharaoh. Sabahi was referring to MB attempts to empower state institutions. He also asserted the importance of a keeping the peaceful nature of protest. "All the forms of criticise and opposing practiced by the political power and the opposition are acceptable as long as they are within a peaceful context and show respect to the country's establishments," said Ahmed Mahmoud, the Secretary-General of the Freedom and Justice Party in Suez. The fact on the ground, which is causing a wide response for Tamarad, is that the Egyptians are now suffering unstable circumstances. Power cuts occur twice a day in most Egyptian homes, price hikes are ongoing, and the economic situation is not good. Besides, Ethiopia set off alarm bells in Cairo, when it began diverting a stretch of the river to make way for a $7 billion hydroelectric dam, which will affect negatively on Egypt's water sources. "I feel that we are taking steps backwards rather than forwards," Shaimaa Ahmed, 27, said. "The country should be ruled by more qualified politicians, who really can understand the problems of the country and know how to deal with them," Shaimaa, a housewife, added. She said that the January 25 Revolution was against corruption, claiming freedom, dignity and social justice. She sees that these goals are still unfulfilled even after more than two years of the Revolution. "It's not about anti-Morsi or pro-Morsi, it's about Egypt," Shaimaa said. "From my point of view, we as Egyptians deserve to be ruled by a person who really cares for us and tries to find solutions for all our problems," she added.
