Ayman Abed, head of parliament's Human Rights Committee, told the press on Sunday that the government is expected to present parliament with a list of new cabinet ministers on Wednesday. Abed, a member of the Free Egyptians Party, said “we hope that the limited cabinet reshuffle will not include technocrat figures who have no political background and do not understand how to respond to questions in parliament.” On Monday Prime Minister Sherif Ismail confirmed the reshuffle will be completed the end of this week. “Between eight and 11 cabinet ministers will be replaced,” said Ismail. “The final list will be presented to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi and once endorsed will be sent to parliament for final discussion and approval next week.” Sherif said the selection of new ministers will be based on “their efficiency and ability to deliver improved services and solve the problems citizens face in their daily life”. “The job of a cabinet minister is no longer a luxury. It has become a big burden and every new cabinet minister knows that if he or she is not up to the job then they should not accept a post.” Under Article 147 of Egypt's 2014 constitution the president can introduce a limited cabinet reshuffle after consulting with the prime minister and gaining the support of two thirds of MPs in the House of Representatives. Article 131 of the constitution grants parliament the right to withdraw confidence from the prime minister, one of his deputies, or from a cabinet minister or one of his deputies only after an interpellation is discussed in a plenary session and the withdrawal decision is approved by a majority of MPs. National Movement Party MP Mohamed Badrawi Awad submitted an interpellation last week accusing Ismail's government of pursuing haphazard economic and monetary policies which have led inflation to skyrocket and pushed millions of poor and limited-income citizens into poverty. House of Representative Secretary-General Ahmed Saadeddin said on Monday that a date for discussing Awad's interpellation will be set when parliament holds a plenary session on Wednesday. Abed told the Weekly that in tandem with the new list of cabinet ministers the government is expected to submit a detailed account of its performance over the last year. “It will be like a balance sheet in which the government shows how far it was able to implement its policy statement delivered before parliament on March 2016,” said Abed. Informed sources say the report will list the 90 draft laws and 60 agreements already submitted to parliament. Landmark laws such as those regulating church building and the media have already been approved while others still await discussion by MPs. There is intense speculation over which ministers will go. Sources say four ministers —education, higher education, health and agriculture — are guaranteed to leave. “These are the ones who faced sharp criticism in parliament. Keeping them in place will be a high risk manoeuvre,” says one informed source. Alaa Abdel-Moneim, deputy head of parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told the Weekly that as long as Ismail remains in office it is unlikely that the fresh influx of ministers will differ greatly from the bureaucratic, technocrat mentality that has characterised his cabinet. Yet what is needed, he said, is for new ministers to “come up with a political vision and comprehensive strategy on how to address the problems of citizens”. “Unfortunately, most of the government's current service portfolio ministers are university professors who lack the political background necessary not to antagonise parliament and the public. Khaled Abu Zohad, an independent MP from Sohag, told the Weekly that he had asked Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal to request the government's report on its own performance in advance of the list of new cabinet ministers and that “new cabinet ministers should also come to parliament to explain how they intend to improve the performance of their departments.” The economy, says Abu Zohad, has spun out of control since November 2016 as a “result of haphazard and arbitrary government policies which have forced millions of people into poverty.” “Dismissing colourless technocrats simply to replace them with another batch of same will do nothing to break the patter of crisis following economic crisis.” Independent MP Ali Al-Kayal complains that the Ismail government has completely failed to tackle corruption and monopolies. “When it announced its IMF-inspired economic reforms in November it did nothing to counter the monopolistic and corrupt practices that would seek to profit from changes,” said Al-Kayal. Al-Kayal argues that the government's report to parliament should specify clearly how it intends to tackle corruption. “The 2014 constitution obliges the government to act against corruption and monopolies yet Ismail's cabinet left citizens prey to businessmen who exploited the floatation of the pound to make fortunes out of fleecing and pick-pocketing the public.” Al-Kayal, a member of parliament's Industry Committee, says greater government-parliamentary cooperation is needed to fight corruption. “The problem is that this government does not like working with parliament and parliament's own leadership is unwilling to take on the government, arguing that a stand-off between MPs and the executive is the last thing Egypt needs at this critical time.” Al-Kayal sees some positive signs. The investigation of several senior officials suspected of obtaining billions from corrupt practices in the State Council and the Ministry of Finance sends the rights signals, he says, but it “also shows that corruption is rampant among senior government officials and that the government and watchdog authorities must do more to eliminate this corruption”.
