Ahram Online has published a list of 34 of the 35 Ministers that have been appointed in Hesham Kandil’s cabinet. The only minister who has yet to be named is the Minister of Civil Aviation.
The selections have been plagued by numerous issues. Liberal, socialist and conservative politicians have refused to play any part in the new government. Many politicians, among them former member of parliament and member of the Social Democratic Party Emad Gad, wish to leave the burden of responsibility entirely with the Muslim Brotherhood. The ultraconservative Salafi Nour Party rejected the only offered position of Environmental Minister, deeming it an insult.
The new cabinet, one that can be described as Egypt’s first truly post-revolutionary has been widely viewed as a continuation of the previous regime, and one does not inspire confidence for reform. Among the ministers, only two are women, both of which are holdovers from Ganzouri’s government, one of which is the only Christian Copt among them.
Speaking at a press conference in which he announced the new ministers, Kandil said, “This is the people’s government, it does not belong to this or that trend.”
The new ministers, as published by Ahram Online are:
1. Minister of Agriculture and Land Cultivation: Salah Abdel-Mo’men, head of the Agricultural Research Centre
2. Minister of Antiquities: Mohamed Ibrahim. Retaining seat from Ganzouri’s cabinet; worked for Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities at the Saqqara and Giza Necropolis archaeological sites; former professor of archaeology at Ain Shams University
3. Minister of Communication: Engineer Hani Mahmoud. Head of the Information and Decisions Support Centre of the cabinet
4. Minister of Civil Aviation: Yet to be announced
5. Minister of Culture: Saber Arab. Served as Minister of Culture for a couple of months in Ganzouri’s cabinet; former Chairman of the National Library and Archives of Egypt
6. Minister of Defence: Hussein Tantawi. Head of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). He has served as defence minister since 1991, under seven different governments
7. Minister of Drinking Water and Sewage: Abdel-Qawi Khalifa. Governor of Cairo since April 2011; previously CEO of the Holding Company for Drinking Water and Sanitation before
8. Minister of Education: Ibrahim Ahmed Ghonim. Vice-President of Suez Canal University
9. Minister of Electricity and Energy: Mahmoud Balbaa. Head of the Egyptian Electric Holding Company
10. Minister of Environment: Khaled Abdel Aziz. Assistant professor in the National Institute of Planning in The Economic Forecast Center 2004-2011; now an advisor to the Center
11. Minister of Finance: Momtaz El-Said. Deputy Finance Minister in Essam Sharaf’s government; spent career working on state budgets; retaining seat from Ganzouri’s cabinet
12. Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mohammed Kamel Amr. Retaining seat from Ganzouri’s Cabinet
13. Minister of Health: Mohamed Hamed Mostafa. Professor of medicine at Cairo University
14. Minister Higher Education: Mostafa Mosaad. Engineering professor; was responsible for the educational policy of Morsi’s presidential campaign
15. Minister of Housing: Tarek Wafiq. Engineer; Head of the Housing Committee within the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP)
16. Minister of Information: Salah Abdel Maqsood. Journalist; prominent Muslim Brotherhood figure, and longstanding member of the board of the Journalists’ Syndicate
17. Minister of Interior: General Ahmed Gamal El-Din. Assistant of former Interior Minister; Director of the Public Security Authority
18. Minister of Insurance and Social Affairs: Nagwa Khalil. Retaining seat from Ganzouri’s cabinet; previously held position at the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research; was member of the fact-finding committee that was mandated with investigating the violent events that occurred during the January uprising
19. Minister of Investment: Osama Saleh. Chairman of Egypt’s General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI)
20. Minister of Justice: Judge Ahmed Mekky. Prominent reformist judge; former vice-president of Egypt’s Court of Appeal
21. Minister of Local Development: Ahmed Zaki Abdeen. Governor of Kafr Al-Sheikh; governor of Beni Suef in 2006; worked as engineer officer in Egypt’s Armed Forces
22. Minister of Manpower: Khaled El-Azhary. Leading member of the Brotherhood’s FJP; MP of the now dissolved parliament; active trade unionist appointed to the board of Egypt’s Trade Unions Federation after the fall of Mubarak
23. Minister of Military Production: Aly Sabry. Held this post in Essam Sharaf and Kamal El-Ganzouri’s cabinets.
24. Minister of Parliamentary Affairs: Mohamed Mahsoub. Board member of the centrist Al-Wasat Party; member of the Constituent Assembly
25. Minister of Petroleum: Osama Kamal. Chairman of the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company which belongs to petroleum ministry
26. Minister of Planning and International Cooperation: Ashraf El-Araby. Former head of the technical office of minister of planning under long-serving Faiza Abul Naga
27. Minister of Religious Endowments – Awqaf: Osama El-Abd. Vice Chancellor of Al-Azhar University
28. Minister of Scientific Research: Nadia Zakhary. Retaining seat from Ganzouri’s cabinet; professor of biochemistry and tumour biology at Egypt’s National Cancer Institute
29. Minister of Sports: El Amry Farouk. Businessman; member of the Ahly Club board.
30. Minister of Supply and Social Affairs: Mohamed Abou-Zeid. Vice-President of state-owned Food Industries Holding company
31. Minister of Tourism: Hisham Zaezou. Served as Minister of Tourism in the 1990s; senior assistant to Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour in Essam Sharaf’s government; Head of the Egyptian Tourism Federation 2004-2007.
32. Minister of Trade and Industry: Hatem Saleh. CEO of Gozour Food Industry Group, a subsidiary of Citadel Capital; deputy head of El-Hadara Party formed after the January 25 revolution by a number of reformist leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood leading members
33. Minister of Transport: Mohamed Rashad. Engineering professor at Cairo University
34. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation: Mohamed Bahaa El-Din Saad. Former Head of the Irrigation Authority; assigned in 2007 as the General Coordinator of the National Plan for Water Resources and Irrigation Project
35. Minister of Youth: Osama Yassin. Member of FJP executive office; member of the now dissolved parliament
Photo Credit: Reuters
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