Probe Accuses Egypt Gov’t Of Wasting Grant Money

In a 15-page long probe to be discussed next week in the Egyptian parliament, Member of the MB Parliamentary Bloc MP Mohsen Radi accused the Egyptian government of wasting grant and financial aid money received from the United States and the European Union.

In the last period, Radi told Ikhwanweb, Egypt has been successively receiving American and European financial assistance and grants that have cost the Egyptian government a lot but have not been of any benefit to society.  Some of them even amounted to about 56.6 billion dollars from 1982 to mid-2005 including 6 billion which were spent to support the Egyptian regime and democracy in Egypt, he aded.

Radi explained that most of these grants were spent, according to official reports, on foreign expertise and conferences which recommend theories that could hardly be applied and in fact have negative effects on Egypt adding that, on the contrary, some of the important sectors in Egypt such as manufacturing, education, agriculture, and health are deteriorating.   On the other hand, countries such as Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, and others have made great economic achievements without any aid or assistance, Radi added that this is in addition to the fact that these grants only serve the aims of the granting countries; hence preventing them will not affect the future of Egypt, although, surely, they will affect only those who are benefiting from them.

In the probe, Radi cited several grants that were not used for their desired purposes such as the grant worth 1.5 million Egyptian pounds provided by Italy concerned with the agreement for supporting and preserving women, cultural heritage, people”s wealth, and women”s roles in preserving Egyptian handy-crafts and as craftsmen themselves.  However, the Egyptian government, instead of spending it on work that people can benefit from, incurred the cost of seven million Egyptian pounds where only half a million went to relieving poverty and eight million went to satisfying greed.

Radi further pointed out that more than six billion worth of loans and grants have been wasted, according to the Egyptian Central Auditing Organization which attributed this waste to the government”s negligence.  The Head of the Central Administration of the Ministry of Trade and Industry also confirmed that only 3.1 billion of these grants were used for their desired purposes.

Moreover, an American grant to help fund education worth 9.11 billion dollars was wasted.  Radi questioned whether or not the educational process with all its levels could do without financial assistance since anyway it is spent in the form of bonuses and does not lead to any real reform or development of the educational system.