Activists fear Prime Minister El-Ganzouri's reluctance to name the new interior minister before cabinet takes oath could mean he has chosen an unpopular figure close to the old regime With the new cabinet to be officially unveiled and sworn into office on Wednesday, the new minister of interior remains a mystery. Kamal El-Ganzouri, who was prime minister from 1996 to 1999 under ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was installed as prime minister by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) after his predecessor Essam Sharaf failed to live up to the expectations of Egypt's revolutionaries and different movements and parties from across the political arena. Activists had primarily been protesting military rule and demanding an immediate handover of power to a civilian administration, rather than demanding the replacement of Sharaf, so El-Ganzouri's appointment on November 25 did little to soothe the chronic public disgruntlement. All the members of the new cabinet have now been revealed, with the exception of the ministry of interior. El-Ganzouri's initial nomination for the ministry's top post was widely deemed unacceptable and further inflamed the feelings of the public. The nominee was Mohamed Ibrahim, the former head of Alexandria's security directorate, who is said to be one of the police leaders who ordered troops to fire live rounds on peaceful protesters during the January 25 Revolution. Ibrahim was also in charge of the security directorate in Alexandria when Khaled Said, the most famous victim of police brutality, was beaten to death at the hands of two plain-clothed policemen in the coastal city, an incident that was cited as one of the motives that triggered the uprising. Suggesting Ibrahim for the job met flat refusal and caused nationwide wrath, which prompted El-Ganzouri to nominate Major General Abdel Rehim El-Kenawi, who declined the position. At the time of going to press, no candidate had been confirmed to take the job. The uncertainty currently surrounding the interior ministry has raised fears that the next minister might also be from hated former minister Habib El-Adly's old guard like Ibrahim, and that El-Ganzouri is being coy over his choicein order to maintain the fragile calm in the street. Since the January 25 Revolution, many Egyptians have complained of a countrywide security vacuum, a situation that was largely blamed on the police for “deliberately easing off” following their ferocious battles with protesters during the uprising, which saw numerous police stations set ablaze. The first successor of El-Adly, the notorious former interior minister who is standing trial and believed to have left deep-seated corruption in the ministry, was Mahmoud Wagdi. The performance of Wagdi, a member of Ahmed Shafiq's government, was seen as far from satisfactory during his short tenure. Likewise, the appointment of Mansour El-Eissawy as interior minister under Sharaf did not go well. Apart from the fact that he evidently did not improve the deteriorating security situation in Egypt, he faced a baptism of fire in the wake of last month's brutal clashes in Tahrir Square. The bloody confrontations between anti-SCAF protesters and the police in the square and surrounding streets, which erupted after Central Security Forces (CSF) tried to forcibly disperse a small sit-in following a Friday mass protest, left over 40 killed and thousands injured. During the clashes, Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the popular uprising, was packed with demonstrators adamantly calling for a national salvation government led by presidential hopeful Mohamed ElBaradei, and rejecting the appointment of El-Ganzouri, which was announced few days after violence tailed off. Many also decided to boycott the first round of the parliamentary elections, out of their belief that a parliament under military rule would have no real constitutional authority, insisting the junta had to step down before the first post-revolution parliamentary elections. As police forces used batons, tear gas and even live ammunition against pro-democracy demonstrators during the confrontations, many others demanded the postponement of the vote, saying security had to improve first in order to ensure transparency and the safety of the ballot. The military council, however, insisted on holding the parliamentary ballot on time in spite of the turmoil, ignoring speculation that numerous candidates, especially the remnants of the deposed regime, would capitalise on the chaos and resort to thuggery in order to get in the first post-revolution parliament. Much to the public's surprise, the elections turned out to be much safer and more organised than many expected. The ballot-related violence was negligible as 52 per cent of Egypt's constituents turned up to cast their votes. Meanwhile, numbers in Tahrir Square and calls for a national salvation government and the departure of SCAF have started to fade. However, the same demands might well re-emerge after the announcement of the new cabinet, particularly if it contains an interior minister who was complicit in the abuses of the former regime.
