President tells Egyptians to lose weight
Critics have accused el-Sissi of fat-shaming and elitist behaviour
CAIRO— President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is demanding Egyptians lose weight.
In televised comments earlier this month, the generalturned-president railed about the number of overweight people he sees and told Egyptians they must take better care of themselves. He said physical education should become core curriculum at schools and universities and suggested TV shows shouldn’t let presenters or guests on the air if they are overweight.
The next morning, before sunrise, he drove his point home by energetically cycling to the national military academy in a Cairo suburb. In black sweat pants, a dark top and a matching baseball hat, he told cadets that he was adamant they wouldn’t leave basic training before fulfilling fitness requirements.
It was the typical style of el- Sissi, who sees even the smallest minutiae as needing his shaping, and weighs in on anything from road building to filmmaking, often while scolding and haranguing Egyptians to correct their behaviour.
But el-Sissi’s critics said he was fat-shaming and taking an elitist approach to a problem whose roots lie to a large extent in poverty. They also criticized him for not offering concrete plans to combat obesity and spread fitness. Prices for food — particularly fruits and vegetables — have spiralled because of economic reforms introduced by el-Sissi, often making cheaper junk foods more appealing.
No one disputes that Egypt has a weight problem. One in three Egyptians suffer from obesity, the world’s highest rate, according to a 2017 global study by the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. It found 35 per cent of adults — some 19 million people in the country of100 million — are obese, again the world’s highest rate, as well as10.2 per cent of Egyptian children, or around 3.6 million.
El-Sissi, who often tells Egyptians they must buckle down and accept hardships to get through hard times, said they must change their habits to shed the fat.
“The second I walk into any place I look at things you cannot possibly imagine I would notice; and I ask myself ‘what is this? Who are these people? Why are these people not looking after themselves?’ ” ElSissi said in the Dec. 15 comments.
He derided Egyptians for not walking enough and, laughing, turned to his prime minister — seated next to him — and told him not to put on weight.
Egypt’s pro-government media prominently trumpeted his comments. Parliament, packed by his supporters, has said it intends to introduce legislation making physical education part of the core curriculum at schools. Similarly, his education minister said students taking the Cairo metro should get off two stops early and walk.