Egyptians scoff at daylight savings time revival

Cairo: A decision by the Egyptian government reviving the application of the daylight-savings time this summer has triggered controversy over the system that was scrapped in the country more than five years ago.

“Has the government no other way to make people more depressed than returning [to] the summertime system?” Nadia Shehata, a schoolteacher, said sarcastically.

“This system has proved useless over the years. It only strains our nerves and confuses us,” she told Gulf News.

“Has the government no more important issues to pay attention to? Why doesn’t it show similar interest in trying to control prices that rise day after day?”

Earlier this week, the government said in a brief statement that the nation’s clocks would be switched forward by one hour, on July 7, to be reversed at the end of October. There was no explanation for reinstating the disputed system, which has been applied in Egypt on an on-and-off-basis since the 2011 revolt that forced out long-standing president Hosni Mubarak.

The first post-Mubarak government cancelled the summertime system, saying it proved to be useless in cutting power use.

The system was resurrected in the summer of 2014, but was temporarily suspended during the lunar month of Ramadan when Muslims observe dawn-to-sunset fasting that fell in summer of that year.

Last year, the then government suspended the system again pending relevant studies on its feasibility. At the time, a governmental survey showed that most Egyptians were in favour of cancelling system. At the time, electricity authorities said its application did not “significantly” ease the country’s energy crunch.

Shortly after the incumbent cabinet announced that the system will take effect this summer, its official page was flooded with comments mostly critical of the decision.

“Some countries try to reduce electricity consumption by putting clocks one hour forward. But the situation is illogical in Egypt where shops and markets keep open until past midnight,” Farid Salama, a psychologist, said. “The successive governments’ conflicting decisions about the summertime system make people confused and negatively affect their biological clock,” he told Gulf News.

Egypt had used the summertime system for 23 years, beginning 1988.