After a poor first interview, Egypt's al-Sisi compared with Morsi

After a poor first campaign interview by Egyptian ex-army chief and presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, Arab social media users widely shared a Facebook post which compares Sisi’s answers to those by the elected president Mohamed Morsi which Sisi forcibly ousted last July 3.

Activists and social media users compared Sisi’s answers to questions on how to solve problems facing Egyptians, to those of Morsi when he was asked the same questions during his electoral campaign.

In a virtual debate created by online activists to mirror actual statements by the two leaders, when Sisi was asked how he would solve the ongoing power outage problem, he said that citizens should simply buy “energy-conserving lamps,” whereas Morsi suggested using alternative energy, including nuclear energy.

Concerning the bread problem, Sisi, as he literally said in the interview, suggested that “every citizen should save one loaf of bread, and cut it into four pieces.” Morsi, on the other hand, said that his vision includes boosting domestic wheat production and renting parts of Sudanese and Ethiopian lands to plant them in order to conserve water, then separating the production and distribution processes to prevent the smuggling of wheat.

Asked how he would deal with a drop in foreign reserves, Sisi said he would “take dollars from every Egyptian living abroad,” whereas Morsi said he would raise tariffs on ships passing through the Suez Canal.

On the employment crisis, Sisi said he would simply “buy a thousand pickup trucks for young men in Obour wholesale market”, while Morsi said he would encourage microenterprises, and activate new projects such as the Suez Canal Corridor Development project.

Concerning their position on the peace treaty with Israel, Sisi said he would honor it and coordinate with Israel to protect borders, while Morsi said that Egypt honors its treaties, but also the other side should honor these treaties.