The Muslim Brotherhood has announced that it will start a donation campaign and mobilise its cadres in order to help President Mohamed Morsy complete his first 100 days programme.
Brotherhood officials announced after a meeting of the group’s General Shura (advisory) Council that they had agreed to launch a popular campaign in support of Morsy’s programme and that they would get in contact with regional governors to determine the needs of each area.
“A number of steps were agreed for the implementation of five projects to deal with security, traffic, bread- quality, fuel and garbage collection,” Mahmoud Hussein, secretary general of the Muslim Brotherhood, said in a press statement.
“Those projects were launched by the President of the Republic, as part of his program, in all villages and neighbourhoods of governorates across Egypt. In this, we will be working with all political and popular groups and stakeholders,” he added.
In his campaign programme, Morsy had outlined five main problems facing Egyptians: food, traffic, security, the environment, and fuel. He promised to solve them within the first 100 days of his term.
“At the meeting, the Brotherhood’s Shura Council discussed how to engage popular action to implement these five projects. It also reviewed the role of the Muslim Brotherhood as well as political parties and popular movements in this regard, in collaboration with state institutions, in order to alleviate the suffering of the Egyptian people with regard to these challenges,” Hussein said.
Morsy had officially announced his resignation from both the Brotherhood and the chairmanship of its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, after his victory.
He is yet to appoint either a prime minister or cabinet and former Prime Minister Kamal Al-Ganzouri’s cabinet continues to rule in a caretaker capacity. Morsy made promises to a group of reluctant allies, the National Front, that he would appoint a prime minister who did not belong to the Brotherhood or its FJP, and that neither organisation would make up a majority of his cabinet.
The Front, a group of revolutionary and secular figures, and other groups, only backed Morsy because he was facing former Mubarak-era ex-prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq. Following Morsy’s victory, they have recommended that he appoint Nobel laureate and former International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei as premier.
Brotherhood officials have denied reports that the group’s Shura Council would recommend deputy supreme guide, Khairat Al-Shater, who was the group’s first choice for presidential candidate, before his disqualification prompted them to nominate Morsy for the prime minister position.
Acting chairman of the FJP, Essam Al-Erian, denied on his Twitter account that the meeting discussed nominating Al-Shater or any Brotherhood members to any positions. Al-Erian also denied reports that former People’s Assembly speaker Saad Al-Katatny, current Shura Council speaker Ahmed Fahmy, or Essam Al-Haddad, understood to be Morsy’s political advisor, attended the Brotherhood meeting.
Al-Katatny and Fahmy had also resigned their Brotherhood Shura Council memberships and Al-Katatny resigned his post as FJP secretary general.
Such reports, vehemently denied by Brotherhood officials, cast doubt on the ability of state officials belonging to the Brotherhood or its FJP to act independently or separate their partisan loyalties from their official roles.
