Reuters reports: “Your exellency: you are not working,” television presenter Azza al-Henawy said, looking into the camera but addressing the Egyptian president. “Not one single issue has been solved since you took over.”

After years of hearing little but enthusiastic applause for Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and vilification of his enemies, the tens of millions of Egyptians who watch the country’s pugnacious talk shows are suddenly being presented with the president’s faults.

The former military chief who overthrew the Muslim Brotherhood to take power in 2013 is facing the first sustained public criticism of his rule.

State television, known for being fiercely loyal, launched an internal investigation on Wednesday into Henawy for her remarks. But her comments were hardly isolated.

After years of publicly lionizing Sisi as the savior of the nation, many of the country’s most influential figures have emerged to blame the president for an economy in crisis, an Islamist insurgency raging in the Sinai peninsula and the brutality of an unreformed police force. [Continue reading…]