General As-Sisi Announces His Bid For President of Egypt (Full Text)

Abdel Fattah As-Sisi announced he will doff his uniform and run for president of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Photo Credit: Abode of Chaos via Compfight cc

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

Proud and honorable people of Egypt, today I stand before you in my military uniform for the last time. I have decided to end my service as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Minister of Defense and Military Production.

I have spent my entire career as a soldier of this homeland serving its hopes and aspirations, and I shall continue in this course.

This is a very significant moment for me. The first time I wore military uniform was in 1970 as 15-year-old cadet at the Air Force High School, almost 45 years ago. And I take pride in wearing this uniform to defend my country. Today I am taking off this uniform to defend this homeland as well.

These recent years of our nation’s history have shown conclusively that nobody can become president of this country against the will of the people or without their full support. No one can force Egyptians to vote for a president they do not want. This is a fact.

Therefore, I humbly come before you to announce my intention to run for president of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Only your support will grant me this great honor.

I stand directly before you to speak to you from my heart as usual. I want to say to you that I am answering the demand of a wide range of Egyptians who have called on me to run for president, to attain this honor. I consider myself as I have always been–a soldier who is charged with serving the homeland. And I will always remain in the service of this country in any post in which Egyptians desire me to serve.

From the start, I want to be honest with you, with my country, and with myself, as I have always been. We Egyptians have an extremely difficult task, and a high-cost mission. The economic, social, political and security situation, whether before the 25 January 2011 revolution and its aftermath, or the 30 June 2013 revolution, has reached a level that requires an honest and brave confrontation of challenges.

We must be honest with ourselves. Our country is facing huge challenges, while our economy is weak. Millions of our youths are suffering from unemployment. This cannot be acceptable.

Millions of Egyptians are sick and cannot find treatment. This is also unacceptable.

Egypt is rich with resources and people, yet it relies on grants and aid. This is not acceptable, either.

Egyptians deserve a better life,  full of dignity, security and freedom. They deserve to have a job, food, education, medical treatment and affordable homes. These things should be available for all Egyptians.

We Egyptians face tough challenges:

• Weak state agencies cannot perform their duties, and so need rebuilding. This is an issue that requires firmness so that these systems recover, becoming coherent, standardized and in tune.
• Production has to resume in all sectors to save our country real dangers.
• The state needs to regain its might and status, which has suffered much in the past period of time.

Our mission is to restore Egypt and rebuild it. What Egypt witnessed in the few last years, politically or through the media, internally or externally, has made this country vulnerable. It is time for disrespect and intrusion to come to an end.

This is an honorable country and everyone must know that this is a decisive moment, that disrespecting Egypt will have consequences.  Egypt is not a playground for any internal, regional or international parties,  and will never be. We do not interfere in the affairs of others and we will not allow others to interfere in our affairs.

I believe that implementing the road map to the future, formulated by the truly national forces,  is an urgent task for us. As part of this task, we successfully drafted the constitution with God’s help, and here we are, taking our second step to hold presidential elections, to be followed by legislative ones.

I want to assure you that my nomination for office should not deny others their right and duty to run if they see themselves competent. I will certainly be happy to accept the choice of the people, and the winner of the voters’ confidence.

I call upon the partners of this nation to realize that all of us–the sons and daughters of Egypt–are in the same boat, navigating our way to safety, without settling scores or pursuing temporary disputes. We need our motherland to be rebuilt by all her children with no alienation, exclusion or discrimination. We have open arms for everybody, here or abroad, and all Egyptians, men and women, who are not convicted by the law, will be effective partners in shaping the future with no limits or restraints.

Despite all the hardships that our country is going through, I stand before you without the slightest feeling of despair or doubt. Rather, I stand with absolute faith in God, and in your strong will to change Egypt for the better, and usher your country to it s rightful place among advanced nations.

It was your will that helped achieve most of the change. It was not the politicians or the military who removed the past two regimes. It was you, the people.

The Egyptian will is great. We have learned and witnessed that. However, we need to recognize that we are destined to exert that will to our utmost to overcomethe obstacles to our future. Shaping the future is a joint effort. It is a contract between the ruler and his people, where the ruler is responsible and committed before God and the people, and displays honesty, loyalty, honor and patriotism.

But the people are also expected to work hard and show patience. A ruler cannot succeed alone. It takes joint efforts from both the ruler and the people to succeed. All Egyptians know that major victories can be attained, for we have done this before. Yet our will and desire to achieve victory must  be accompanied by hard work.

The abilities and talents evident in Egyptians for 7,000 years must be put to work. It is hard, sincere, and devoted work that makes successful countries.

Every Egyptian able to work will be required to exert real efforts. Every Egyptian has to exert great effort, and I will be the first to spare no effort for a future well-earned by Egypt. This is the time to rally for the sake of our country.

With complete openness and under the circumstances that you all know, I am not going to launch a presidential campaign in the traditional sense. However, it is your right to share my vision of the future. This will be, as I see it, a clear platform that seeks a modern and democratic Egypt, once the High Electoral Commission permits that. I will not conduct an extravagant campaign, whether in words, funds or practices, as this is not suitable at present.

We are threatened by the terrorists, by parties who seek to destroy our lives, safety and security. While it is true that this is my last day in uniform, I will fight every day for an Egypt that is free from fear, panic and terror. And not only Egypt but the entire region, God willing.  I repeat what I have said before “we would rather die before we allow Egyptians to be intimidated.

Finally, allow me to speak about hope.

Hope is the outcome of hard work. Hope is safety. Hope is stability. Hope is the dream, the dream to usher Egypt into its leading role in the world, to restore its leverage and influence and to teach the world as it did before.I cannot make miracles. I will rather exert hard work and self-denial with no limits.

And I promise you: if I am granted the honor of leadership, that we together, leader and people, can achieve stability, safety and hope for Egypt, God willing.

God bless Egypt and her glorious people. Peace be upon you.