The talking heads are clearly concerned about the lot of the nation’s poor — or, at least, what the poor might do to them if their concerns aren’t addressed. That manifested itself in extensive talk of the phase-out of the wheat subsidy system, affordable housing and the ‘redevelopment’ of slum areas.

Supply Minister Ali El Moselhy unveiled to Yahduth fi Masr’s Sherif Amer a possible new strategy to further overhaul the bread subsidy system. Ration cards would be divided into categories according to the holders’ income bracket. Those at the bottom income bracket would be allowed to purchase loaves at today’s price (EGP 0.05 each), while those making more can expect an increase to EGP 0.10 per.

El Moselhy bravely suggested on national television that some currently benefiting from the subsidy program may have to buy bread at market price. It was unclear whether his proposal could replace plans to cut daily bread rations to four loaves from five. El Moselhy reiterated that the bread system had cost state coffers some EGP 4.5 bn per annum.

Meanwhile on Kol Youm, former Supply Minister Khaled Hanafy had his day in kangaroo court after El Moselhy essentially pointed to his predecessor’s bread points system as being behind the inefficiencies in subsidies. Hanafy told host Amr Adib that he was acquitted of all charges of illicit gains, but says he has not yet received official word that he’s in the clear (watch, runtime: 13:20).

Adib then brought on Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly to discuss compensating contractors for losses they incurred on government contracts after the EGP float. Madbouly said Cabinet agreed to push back projects’ deadlines to give contractors some breathing space (watch, runtime 2:23).

Madbouly also downplayed the clashes at Warraq island earlier this month, saying residents were not evicted from their homes and that authorities needed to clear out the informal settlement to build schools and hospitals (watch, runtime 1:13).

Hona Al Asema’s Lamees Al Hadidi also had housing on her agenda, speaking to Assistant Housing Minister Walid Abbas about the ministry’s tender of 24,000 plots of land in 19 cities. According to Abbas, 12,000 plots will be allocated to low-income housing projects, while the rest will be used for higher-end residential developments (watch, runtime: 5:06).

Lamees circled back to the power outage at Cairo International Airport’s Terminal 3, where the Prosecutor General reportedly ordered the arrest of 11 people on suspicion they may have been involved. The host expressed hope that low-ranking employees will not be used as scapegoats for high-level mistakes (watch, runtime: 3:58).

Over on Masaa’ DMC, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the Arab quartet can take further measures to escalate their boycott of Qatar, but that they have not set a deadline for Doha to respond to their 13 demands (watch, runtime 5:17).