The Iraqi new elected local governments

I felt so happy to see the overall success of the recent provincial elections which were held in our country Iraq on 31 January 2009. Needless to say that these elections were associated with some mistakes but we know that democracy is a learning process and our democracy will gain maturity as it goes.

I believe it is very vital to hold the new local governments accountable for what they promised to do when they were running as candidates in these elections. They should be questioned all the time about their performance and actions because they were elected to serve the people of Iraq and not for any thing else and as such they should find the most efficient and transparent ways to execute their dutiess.

Every election and the Iraqi people will be getting closer to a total prosperity they deserve and to live the nice life they want to live.

Visiting Cairo

I spent the last week in Cairo to attend an IT training. It was a fantastic time and I enjoyed every minute of it.Cairo is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Middle East and in Africa.It has a population of 7.5 Million (2003).The Arabic version of the word Cairo (Al-Kaherah) translates as "the victorious," or "the triumphant" while the Cairenes call their city Misr, which is the Arabic version of the word Egypt.The city is too big located on both banks of the Nile River near the head of the river's delta in northern Egypt.Many streets are dirty and an Egyptian friend told me laughing "The streets will be cleaned only when Hosni Mubarak's regime is removed" but I can't see this happening soon. The city at the moment is
occupied by the army and police as a result of the recent terrorist attack in Saydna Al-Hussein district. You see them every where and inside all the important buildings and hotels.

The city is a reflection of Egypt's chronic problems poverty, deteriorated infrastructure, corruption, unemployment, homelessness and massive population growth. The price for food and clothes are so cheap and the average salary for millions of Egyptians is 100 US$ per month.

I met in the training some very good Egyptian friends Ahmad, Noha, Mohammad, Ramy, Malek and others.Also, I managed to make a promising friendship with Haj Abdulrahman who works as a taxi driver.He toured me around Cairo and then he proved to be a reliable friend when he called to the reception in the hotel where I stayed asking them to wake me up because I need to be at Cairo airport by now. It was so important that he acted as I slept but thanks to ALLAH I managed to arrive in time to take my flight.In general it was a nice trip and I hope to visit Cairo again in the near future.