Mubarak-era singer launches campaign to raise LE1 trln for Egypt’s economy

Veteran Egyptian singer Mohamed Tharwat announced on Friday the launch of a campaign to collect “a trillion pounds” to support the economy.

In an interview on the state’s official satellite channel, Tharwat said that Egypt is facing chronic issues that need a solution — such as villages without proper clean water and sewage systems, education that needs reform, a healthcare system that needs development and an increasing number of citizens falling below the poverty line.

Donations to the campaign would help pay the national debt and spare the country from paying interest, Tharwat claimed.

“It will help build new projects, raise Egypt’s credit rating and allow Egypt to make its own decisions without having its arm twisted [by  creditors],” he asserted.

“A board of trustees will be assigned to supervise the transparency of distributing donations to the urgent projects the country needs,” Tharwat further explained.

The highlights of Tharwat’s singing career include performing in state and army celebrations of national events during the 1980s. He stepped out of the limelight over the past few years due to what he called incompatibility between the type of art he performs and what’s common in the performing arts scene.

His most famous performance was in an operetta composed in 1989 to celebrate the anniversary of the October War. “Ikhtarnak” (“We Chose You”) serenaded former President Hosni Mubarak, who was present at the performance, by reciting the qualities that made him the people’s choice as Egypt’s leader.

Islamic preacher Mohamed Hassan had started a similar donations campaign in early 2012 to replace the American aid program during the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.

Hassan called on people to donate to the “pride” account to support the Egyptian economy. Days after the launch of the campaign, a source at the Central Bank of Egypt told the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that the account received over LE60 million in donations.

An online campaign called, “Where did you hide the money, Hassan?” was started shortly thereafter to demand that information regarding the funds be released to the public. To this moment, it is still unclear how the collected money was spent.