Newly appointed PM El-Ganzouri announces he will reconsider some of the names that have been announced for the new Cabinet, who the public sees as part of the old regime Newly-appointed interim Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri announces that some of his cabinet appointments “will be reconsidered.” He uttered the brief statement while he was on his way to the military council's headquarters for a meeting, but refused to specify who exactly he will be rethinking. El-Ganzouri's decision to keep some of the ministers from the previous government stirred disapproval from the public and, tellingly, ministerial employees. Two of Sharaf's cabinet members, International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abu El-Naga and Electricity Minister Hassan Younis, took their positions during the regime of the ousted Mubarak, yet 10 months into the revolution and they have not been replaced. Another cause for protest is the shocking appearance of Information Minister Osama Heikal at a meeting on Friday with El-Ganzouri and his supposed finalised Cabinet members. The passive acceptance of Heikal into the cabinet caused raucous disapproval because Heikal was in charge when police attacked a Coptic Christian protest march, where state television not only gave a highly biased slant to in their coverage, but, even according to the report by the National Human Rights Council, incited violence. The critical position of the Minister of Interior is also yet to be determined, as El-Ganzouri has noted that all those he offered the position to have declined. That ministry is notorious for police brutality, unwarranted arrests and intimidation. El-Ganzouri, a former prime minister in the Mubarak regime itself, was appointed by Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) on, Friday 25 November. Although the SCAF claims he has been given full power to govern, as a military appointee, the public is highly skeptical. He replaced interim PM Essam Sharaf, who resigned along with his cabinet in protest to SCAF's apparent orders to the police to attack protesters on 19 November in Tahrir Square. Egyptians enunciated that these attacks reminded them of the attacks at the beginning of the revolution on 28 January. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/28390.aspx
