Egypt’s Armed Forces To Supervise Kitchens and Restaurants of Cairo University Hostels

In an unprecedented move, Cairo University signed a contract with Egypt’s Armed Forces Commission to supervise the food services and the hostel kitchens, as unveiled by Dr. Mohamed Osman Al-Khosht, the Cairo University Vice President for Education and Student’s Affairs.

Al-Khosht said in a press statement that many commissions have proposed to supervise the kitchens and restaurants of Cairo University hostels, but the university has chosen the Egyptian Armed Forces (EAF), adding that the EAF will perform the service at a high quality, and will provide the goods at the least prices, in addition to their commitment.

It’s noteworthy that Cairo university has four hostels (one for boys and three for girls) and another semi-private hostel in Imababa. The number of students who reside in hostels ranges between 30,000 to 50,000 students.

The Egyptian Armed Forces move in steady steps to sweep Egypt’s civilian activities. The Egyptian Army has recently penetrated nearly every economic activity in the country.

A week ago, the Egyptian Ministry of Supply gave away its responsibility in managing the subsidy card system to the Ministry of Military Production, and the Awkaf (Religious Endowment) Ministry’s  authorization of the Ministry of Military Production to sell 10,000 acres of land related to Al-Awkaf to investors, which ensures the accusations raised against the military institution that it seeks to fully control all the economic and civil activities in Egypt.

The recent roles dominated by the Ministry of Military Production are added to other projects that have been dominated by the military such as automating the agriculture property documentation and a contract for constructing a new building for the Lawyers Syndicate which is consistent with the military institution’s penetration of the Egyptian politics and economy in general.

The military also dominated the political positions, starting from the presidency that was usurped by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who led a military coup that brought him to power, as well as a large number of ministers with a military background (a number of army generals appointed as ministers, not necessarily military-related ministries).

Among these areas penetrated by the military were: the administration of governorates (provinces), districts, universities, research centers, the national institutes, the consumer’s protection associations, sports stadiums, public hospitals and foreign schools (schools teaching foreign curricula such as the American, British and Canadian diplomas), the boards of directors in holding companies and the oil and natural gas sectors and others.

In March 2014, the Washington Post said that the Egyptian Armed Forces control nearly 60% of the Egyptian economy pointing that the revenues of these projects aren’t announced to the Egyptian public.