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On the airwaves last night: The controversial removal of rice from ration cards, tougher fines on trains, and yesterday’s three-way GERD negotiations all received attention from the nation’s talking heads last night.
No breakthrough in GERD talks: Irrigation Ministry Spokesperson Mohamed Ghanem appeared on Ala Mas’ouleety last night (watch, runtime: 9:36) to discuss the previous two days of negotiations between Egyptian, Ethiopian and Sudanese officials over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Ghanem pretty much repeated yesterday’s statement from the ministry, which attributed the lack of progress in the talks to Ethiopia not compromising on its position. We have more in this morning’s Diplomacy section, below.
Rice removed from ration cards: Ala Mas’ouleety’s Ahmed Moussa dedicated airtime to discussing Supply Minister Ali El Moshelhy’s announcement on Sunday (watch, runtime: 2:50) that people would no longer be able to purchase rice using ration cards with ministry official Sayed Dayra (watch, runtime: 10:28). Dayra said that the decision was made because there’s no place for rice on the EGP 50 ration card anymore considering that oil eats up EGP 30 from the ration card credit and sugar eats up EGP 12.5, not leaving enough credit for the EGP 12 rice bag. Moussa urged the ministry to scrap the decision, saying that “it should be left to the citizen to choose which commodity they want to buy on the ration card and not force the oil and sugar while excluding the rice.”
Also getting attention on the airwaves:
- Election 2024: More parties endorsed Sisi in the upcoming presidential election. Ala Mas’ouleety (watch, runtime: 5:24), Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 5:20), and Al Hayah Al Youm (watch, runtime: 10:23) had coverage.
- Tougher train fines: The Transport Ministry has introduced tougher fines for passengers caught smoking in trains (EGP 100, up from EGP 70) and on the metro (EGP 250, up from EGP 200) and evading fares (up to EGP 70 in trains and EGP 100 in the metro). Masaa DMC (watch, runtime: 1:50) had the story.
