Services lacking in Cairo’s informal communities

The gloomy social reality faced by the majority of the 15 million Egyptians living in Cairo is disconcerting and is connected to the nation’s style of government, The New York Times reported Thursday. According to the article:

“The fisherman on the Nile, the shepherd in the road and residents of so-called informal communities say their experiences navigating city life have taught them the same lessons: the government is not there to better their lives; advancement is based on connections and bribes; the central authority is at best a benign force to be avoided.”

The problem, according to the article, is that while the Egyptian government is the country’s largest employer, it is also an unreliable source of help for ordinary citizens – especially those residing in underserved informal communities that constitute almost 75 percent of Cairo’s population. Thus, Egyptians have come to feel distanced and alienated from a government focused only on the progress of the elite, and have resigned themselves to the fact that is incapable of truly providing for them.
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