Youth Minister Khaled Abdel Aziz recalled a scene from Adel Imam’s “Danish Experience” movie which showed the culture minister inspecting one of the youth centers to find out that it had no fences or playgrounds but poultry cages, while employees were smoking marijuana.
Abdel Aziz said that the scene was 100 percent real and applies to half of the youth centers in Egypt.
In a symposium organized on Monday by the Rotary Club of Tahrir, the minister said that many centers do not have sports activities or playgrounds. Moreover, some of them were built for the purpose of elections campaigns and then remained to be a plot surrounded with fence with no gate, just a sign reading ‘youth center’, the minister said, adding that the centers remain to receive support, while its unknown employees get their monthly salaries.
Abdel Aziz added that his ministry said 4,450 centers nationwide, 500 of which are below zero, another 500 can be called youth centers, while another 1,000 centers have the lowest rate of services.
The minister expressed disappointment that some businessmen who run for elections demand donations to build and equip youth centers at any village, but once they get the approval, they build fences around the allocated land with a gate and sign then they run for elections promising to equip the center. Once they win, everything remain as is, the minister said. Employees are hired to receive their monthly salaries. The center get support from the center, however, no real youth center exists in face.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
