CAIRO: At least 12 ministers will remain unchanged in Kamal El-Ganzoury’s new Cabinet, state TV reported.
El-Ganzoury was appointed by SCAF to replace Essam Sharaf, after his Cabinet resigned in the wake of a violent crackdown by the police on protester in and near Tahrir Square on Nov. 19-24. Protesters camped out in Tahrir and outside the Cabinet headquarters are demanding a premier not affiliated with the ousted Mubarak regime, and more powers to the Cabinet.
Ministers that will remain in their post include Osama Heikal (information), Fayza Abol Naga (international cooperation), Mohamed Amr (foreign affairs), Hassan Younes (energy and electricity), Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour (tourism), Salah Youssef (agriculture), Hisham Qandil (irrigation), Mohamed El-Qoussy (religious endowments), Mahmoud Essa (trade and industry), Abdullah Ghorab (petroleum), Mohamed Salem (telecom) and Aly Sabry (military production).
Gouda Abdel Khaleq, minister of social solidarity, will now also handle the supplies portfolio.
Nagwa Hassan Khalil is nominated for minister of insurance and pensions, a ministry which had been cancelled and handled by the finance ministry, but seems to have made a comeback.
El-Ganzoury will continue meeting with candidates to fill the remaining ministerial posts on Saturday.
As of Friday evening, he had met with the following nominees: Gamal El-Araby Hamad (education), Adel Abdel-Hamid Abdullah (justice), Abdel Messeih Samaan (environmental affairs), Sayed El-Bastawisy (manpower), Shaker Soleiman (culture), Hussein Mostafa Khaled (higher learning), Adel Hassan Abdellatif (health) and Mohamed Ibrahim (antiquities).
El-Ganzoury said on Thursday he had no intention of taking on the finance portfolio, denying media reports claiming otherwise.
"I will appoint a finance minister, because I can’t take on such responsibility at this time," El-Ganzoury told reporters.
Egypt’s economy has been hammered by the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak and the political uncertainty since then. El-Ganzoury was credited with economic liberalization and delivering growth when he was premier under Mubarak in the 1990s.
Former finance minister, Hazem El-Beblawi, told Reuters on Wednesday he had not been approached to stay on. Prior to El-Ganzoury’s appointment, he submitted his resignation in October but it was rejected by the ruling military.
"The new government will include three youth and two women, and there will be no civilian interior minister," he said earlier.
The posts would include a minister for investment and public enterprises, a portfolio that was abolished in the wake of Egypt’s popular uprising early this year. The Cabinet would include no deputies to the prime minister. –Additional reporting by Reuters
