Several parliament members expect cabinet reshuffle within the next few days, while parliament spokesperson Salah Hasaballah denies, saying that the cabinet is the only entity entitled to announce or give information about the matter.
His statement came as a comment on media reports quoting several parliamentarians suggesting a cabinet reshuffle soon.
Accordingly, Hasaballah did not confirm to Daily News Egypt any information about the reshuffle.
“Parliament is not in charge to inform people about the reshuffle, as it is the duty of cabinet. Our only role is to vote on it when presented,” he said, adding, “if there is a cabinet change, parliament will call for an urgent session to vote on it son the new ministers can be sworn in.”
“So far, we were only informed to attend in the parliament on Thursday noon for an extraordinary session to vote on the president’s decision to renew the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) Governor Tarek Amer’s four-year term,” Hasaballah said.
Meanwhile, the parliament speaker Ali Abdel Aal called for an emergency session on Thursday to vote on the renewal of Amer’s tenure until November 2023.
Parliament is currently on a three-week vacation as decided by Abdel Aal last week. However, he said that it may hold an extraordinary meeting within the coming two weeks, most probably to discuss an anticipated cabinet reshuffle. He also criticised, “the poor performance of some ministers.”
The fifth round of parliament started early October. During the first session, several members criticised the performance of several ministers, urging that they are not working in favour of improving the living conditions of low-income citizens. Thus, parliament summoned several ministers during the first weeks of the round which included Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly to speak about their achievement.
In a speech during the fifth round’s opening session, Abdel Aal previously said that parliament will hold firm stance to monitor the government, urging it to work more for ordinary citizens.
“There will be definitely a cabinet reshuffle,” Parliamentarian Mohamed Badrawy told DNE. He suggested that from 3-10 ministers related to public services are expected to be replaced, such as supply, education, agriculture, and trade, explaining that those ministers showed weak performances, and they only work routinely.
He expected that they would announce the reshuffle on Thursday’s session or during the 8 December session which marks the first session after parliament’s three-week vacation.
On the other hand, MP Saeed Hasassien did not fully confirm to Daily News Egypt any news about cabinet reshuffle, but he did not rule out its possibility.
Hasassien said that the parliament was not officially informed about any cabinet reshuffle, and the Thursday session was only meant to vote over the CBE Governor’s tenure renewal, however, he expected the parliament to vote on a possible cabinet reshuffle soon, but he cannot determine a date.
The MP criticised the performance of some ministers especially those working on social welfare, such as health, education, and supply, saying that noting remarkable was seen in their sectors during their time in office
He also urged that whenever any cabinet reshuffle happens in the country, usually the new minister comes with his new own system, neglecting what they could continue after the former minister.
Hasassien suggested that he will submit a recommendation to parliament’s speaker to create a plan for each ministry, to vote on it.
Moreover, MP Mohamed Abdel-Ghani said in press statement on Monday that a cabinet reshuffle is imminent and 10 or 12 ministers will be replaced.
“I think any cabinet reshuffle should include the ministers of health, education, higher education, and supply. Their policies in recent months have been dissatisfactory,” said Abdel-Ghani, adding that “on the other hand, we have cabinet ministers with high-level performance such as the ministers of housing, transport, and electricity.”
According to Article 147 of Egypt’s Constitution, the president may introduce a cabinet reshuffle only after consultation with the prime minister and the approval of an absolute majority of MPs , which must not be less than one third.
