When Ego and Vanity Impoverish the People

The world is littered with grand projects conceived by governments and sold to their citizens as “investments in national pride.” In truth, many are ego monuments, built not for the people, but for the glory of those who commissioned them. Nowhere is this clearer than in Cairo, where the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) has finally opened at an estimated cost of over $1.3 billion, with some reports putting the figure closer to $3 billion once surrounding infrastructure is included.

There’s no denying the engineering brilliance. The GEM stands as a shimmering architectural tribute to Egypt’s ancient civilization, 500,000 m² of polished stone, glass, and symbolism. It houses over 100,000 artefacts, including Tutankhamun’s treasures, and is promoted as “the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization.”

But the question that haunts this achievement is simple: for whom was it really built?

 

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The Illusion of Grandeur

When I first arrived in Cairo, I carried a romantic vision, walking along the storied banks of the Nile, absorbing the cultural heartbeat of one of the world’s most historic cities. The reality was sobering.

The Nile, once worshipped as the vein of life, stank like an open sewer. I saw dead animals floating, plastic and waste clogging its banks, and locals forced to live alongside this contamination. The river that sustained the Pharaohs now mirrored the decay of a nation suffocating under mismanagement and neglect.

That moment crystallized something for me: Egypt’s tragedy isn’t its lack of heritage, it’s the misplaced priorities of those who rule it.

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The Human Cost of Vanity

Over 30% of Egyptians live below the national poverty line, according to the World Bank. Youth unemployment hovers around 20%, and inflation exceeded 35% in 2024, among the highest globally. Yet amid these realities, billions are spent on monumental structures that will serve only a small elite and transient tourists.

Walk through Cairo’s working-class districts, Boulaq, Imbaba, or Shubra, and you’ll see families crammed into crumbling buildings, children playing in alleys strewn with garbage, and overworked young people spending their nights in paid tutoring sessions to escape poverty’s trap.

Imagine what even a fraction of those museum billions could have achieved in sanitation, healthcare, education, or reliable electricity.

A $20 million cultural centre, clean water initiatives, and public-health infrastructure would have transformed lives far more profoundly than a glass-and-stone monument to ego.

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The Great Justification

Defenders argue that the GEM will boost tourism, create jobs, and generate national pride, and to some degree, that’s true. Egypt welcomed 15.7 million tourists in 2024, and the government hopes to double that by 2032. But tourists come to see the artefacts, not the building.

The irony is painful: while ancient relics are preserved in air-conditioned splendour, living citizens endure the suffocating heat of economic struggle.

This is not unique to Egypt. Around the world, from glittering skyscrapers in Dubai to vanity bridges in Europe, we see the same story unfold: grand designs built on fragile foundations of inequality.

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A Lesson for All Nations

Civilisations fall not because of external enemies but because of internal decay, the slow erosion of empathy, honesty, and priorities. Egypt’s ancient builders raised monuments that aligned with the stars. Today’s leaders raise monuments that align with their egos.

If the Nile is the metaphorical heart of Egypt, then it is a heart clogged with waste, not because the people do not care, but because their leaders forgot that true greatness flows from service, not spectacle.

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Closing Reflection

History will remember the Grand Egyptian Museum as a marvel of design. But it may also remember it as a mirror reflecting the modern world’s sickness: the worship of image over substance.

Ego and vanity may build monuments, but compassion and humility build nations.

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