AFRICA/EGYPT - President al-Sisi decrees that even church buildings and mosques shall soon pay for electricity

AFRICA/EGYPT - President al-Sisi decrees that even church buildings and mosques shall soon pay for electricity
Cairo (Agenzia Fides) – All Egypt’s church buildings and mosques will soon have to pay electricity bills, the exemption enjoyed up to now will be a thing of the past. The news was announced by official spokespersons at the Copt Orthodox Patriarchate, who added that the new measure had been communicated by the competent government offices in a letter. The letter– Copt sources told Fides – states that the new regulations have been issued by mandate of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and that electricity meters will be installed in all places of worship. Persons responsible for churches and mosques are asked to cooperate with the technicians charged with the installation of the new appliances.
The measure must clearly be seen in the light of the present serious circumstances in that country also from the economic point of view and it will apply to all places of worship without distinction, with an implicit reaffirmation of the principles of citizen equality and a determination to uproot all discrimination on the sectarian basis, so often stated by the present political leadership in Egypt. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 23/7/2015).