inister of Social Solidarity Gouda Abdel Khaleq urged Egyptians to work together and avoid personal and sector-specific demands until production returns to normal levels, emphasizing that the economy is in bad shape due to endemic corruption and theft of public funds over the last 30 years.
Speaking during a seminar at the High Cultural Council on Wednesday, Abdel Khaleq said those who benefited from corruption were not just at the top, hinting that municipal officials had also gained from corrupt acts and asserting that municipal councils should be abolished.
Abdel Khaleq added that Egypt must achieve a balance between efficiency and justice.
He also emphasized the need to develop agriculture and industry because, he said, Egypt lacks the basic prerequisites to attain food security despite having the potential to do so.
Abdel Khaleq announced that the government is considering reforming the law governing rental agreements on agricultural land, restructuring wages and implementing national minimum and maximum wages.
The interim government is committed to social justice and sees it as a particularly important goal, especially because Egypt is poor in natural resources but rich in human resources, the minister said. But the tragedy, according to him, is this generation's consumption of future generations' resources such as gas, oil, and land.
