It’s not only Egypt’s trains that are on the wrong track

behavior.

Neglecting genuine human development and rejecting the use of technology are the real reasons for Egypt’s high rate of road and railway accidents. A small device can be placed on any vehicle to prevent it from speeding and determine its location. The state should use its substantially inflated workforce to avoid employee misconduct by reducing working hours, while maintaining strict discipline and productivity.

The government regularly advances the argument that it is working under strict budget constraints. However, Egypt’s plans for a nuclear energy plant at Dabaa, even with a $25 billion loan from Russia, refute this argument. A nation that cannot prevent avoidable road and rail accidents should not even dream of a nuclear power plant, even one managed by international experts. The project should be abandoned completely and immediately. We need to prove that we can crawl before insisting that we can run a marathon. Instead, let’s invest the money in reducing our accident rate.

Empowering Egypt’s human capital would enable them to go beyond their normal capacities, walking the extra mile to prove that they are responsible citizens. We need to create a harmonious relationship between our people and the engines they operate. Egyptian government employees need to understand that driving a vehicle, or a train carrying hundreds of people, requires an exceptionally responsible and conscientious citizen. They will not realize this on their own; we desperately need good governance to apply this vision.

New roads alone will not produce professional employees, but educated citizens could easily build and develop solid roads, and much more. We have been using our resources to expand concrete structures that won’t function properly unless they are managed by the right people. The Egyptian government needs to work on better developing its citizens, who will be the true assets of modernization. By limiting our ambitions, we have ended up with a miserable transport system that lacks all comfort and safety.

QMohammed Nosseir, a liberal politician from Egypt, is a strong advocate of political participation and economic freedom.