President al-Sisi’s visit to Germany was his first to a major European leader after his election just over a year ago. Yet, he was embarrassed by a large number of Egyptians who attempted to follow him in Germany. They were screaming and yelling in the German Parliament, wanting to be heard. Their behavior was criticized in Egyptian media and the community, mostly by supporters of al-Sisi.

President al-Sisi was, in Egypt, criticized for choosing the wrong people to accompany him. Ambassador Mohamed El-Orabi, former Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs and an honorary member of the Center for Arab West Understanding found this unjust. An Ambassador to Germany for almost six years he was accompanying the President during his visit to Germany and told Arab-West Report: 

"Some individuals who were financially supported by their organizations or paid the expenses of the trip themselves, and represented only themselves or/and their organizations, wanted to be affiliated with the President and the official delegation accompanying him for several reasons, including personal interest/benefit, and some were driven by good intensions and strong willingness to support the President, but, lacked the qualifications to properly do so".

Most Egyptians who went during al-Sisi’s visit to Germany said they did so in support of the President and the country but their behavior shows they primarily showed concern for their own voice to be heard.

Egypt is facing a tremendous problem with people placing their own agenda over that of the entire community. There was no coordination among themselves or with Egyptian authorities.

The result was chaos that turned out to be an embarrassment for the president and the official governmental delegation.

The government of president al-Sisi is still enjoying widespread support by average Egyptians in its attempts to regain or/and strengthen its relations with members of the international community, especially those who can play a vital role in Egypt's stumbling economy.

Egyptians anxiously watched the President with Chancellor Merkel on Egyptian TV and the events and discussions that came along throughout the entire visit. It seemed that the President was receiving criticism even before his arrival in Germany that was revolving around the delegation that was accompanying the President at their own expense. The list included – but wasn't limited to- actors, media professionals, human rights activists, former diplomats, and businessmen.

The average Egyptian initially believed they were part of the official delegation and wondered why and how were those individuals selected as part of the Egyptian delegation, especially when they saw on TV screaming and shouting in the German Parliament that included television presenter Tamer Amin, President of the Democratic Peace Party, Ahmed Al-Fadaly who is also leader of a coalition named Tayyar El-Istiqlal and others as speakers on a panel in Parliament.

Mr. Hafez Abu Seada, Chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, and actress Athar El-Hakim were sitting on the public tribune and thus were not supposed to take part in the discussions but they screamed and shouted when their requests to have the word were refused. Mr. Abu Seada yelled in very weak English "is this your democracy?" and explained to the audience that he is entitled to have the word as a Chairman of a Human Rights organization, the audience simply laughed out loud, which in turn provoked Athar El-Hakim and resulted in her screaming at the audience and telling them not to laugh at them and to show respect.

All this led to more criticism from Egyptians back home, who only wondered; how come those people get to speak at the Bundestag as if they are representatives of the Egyptian nation!! And the President was falsely accused of choosing them, which was not the case.

Individualism in Egypt is very strong. Different top-officials told us about a weak cooperation in different ministries between government officials. This is even stronger outside the government. It is important for this country to move forward that Egyptians organize themselves better and focus on the good of the entire nation instead of personal interests.