President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received Saturday 17 new local governors who were sworn into office, along with their newly appointed deputies, and in the presence of the replaced governors, according to the presidential office’s statement.
Al-Sisi had given his final endorsement on the new governors in a Thursday meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb. The replacements include the governorates of Giza, Alexandria, Assiut, Beni Suef, Daqahleya, Fayoum, Kafr Al-Sheikh, Sohag, Gharbeya, Beheira, Marsa Matruh, Ismailia, Damietta, Menufiya, Sharqeya, Port Said and Luxor.
There have been no changes for Cairo Governor Galal Said, or the governors of North Sinai and South Sinai, Abdel Fattah Harhour and Khaled Fouda respectively, both officials with military background.
On the other hand, state-run newspaper Al-Ahram has included the governorate of Minya among the replacements but the governor’s office confirmed to Daily News Egypt Saturday morning that Salah Ziada was to remain in his post, also a security man who served in the police.
The new wave of re-establishments includes three senior army officials: Magdy Nasr El-Din for Port Said, Alaa Abou Zeid for Matruh and Yassin Taher for Ismailia, who was deputy governor in Cairo until his new appointment.
Al-Sisi had stressed on the importance of the presence of young-aged members in government posts upon which came the appointments of governors around the age of 40. Hani El-Messiry for Alexandria, Reda Abdel Salam for Sharqeya, Hisham Abdel Baset for Menufiya and Mohamed Soltan for Beheira are all 45 years of age.
Giza’s new governor is Khaled Zakareya Al-Adly, who was previously in charge of the Faculty of Urban Planning and Social Services in Cairo University. The rest of the governors are divided between university professors and other government officials.
Governors are facing the challenges of fighting corruption in their local communities and working towards development and social justice. The position has been turned down by many figures found eligible by Minister of Local Development Adel Labib as Al-Sisi had stated during his visit to the UAE in January that ‘they were concerned with the heavy responsibility and afraid of media attack,’ according to state-run MENA.
