Age might not wither ministers but this does not make them any more appealing in the eyes of the Egyptian press, writes Aziza Sami In an attempt to offset the postponement of the cabinet shake- up due to the president's illness, press writers amused themselves and readers this week by mulling over the respective ages of the various ministers holding office. In the spirit of Al-Akhbar 's satirist Ahmed Ragab, who last week took a jibe at some of the ancient ministers, the usually sedate national weekly magazine Al- Musawwar featured an article on Wednesday, "The old and young in the cabinet". "The current cabinet has become flabby, disparate and disconnected," wrote Mohamed El- Gawwadi. "Some of its members have been in office for 22 years or more though others have been around for only two years." The most lengthy tenure is that of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali, says the writer, who first held office in 1982, in the first cabinet formed under President Mubarak by the then Prime Minister Fouad Mohieddin. The age of current ministers varies between 52 (ministers of economy and communications) and 81 (minister of justice). As for those in between, almost half have neared the retirement age of 65, an asset, not a liability, as the history of Egyptian cabinets shows. "Contrary to the earth's geological formations where newly-formed strata occupy the upper levels, in the Egyptian cabinet, it is the older strata which reside at the top," writes El-Gawwadi who, with the title "doctor" affixed to his name, could be of a scientific background. The age of ministers also provoked Al-Ahali, the weekly newspaper issued by the left-wing Al-Tagammu Party, to address the same topic. Reporter Hussein El-Batrawi wrote that "previous cabinet changes have revealed a continuity of old faces in ministries and other political positions. Among them is (former) Minister of Information Safwat El-Sherif who has now moved on to head the Shura Council. There is also Prime Minister Atef Ebeid who was first appointed minister in 1986, and Youssef Wali who of course remains deputy prime minister." Like Al- Musawwar, Al-Ahali delves into the lengthy chronology of the careers of ministers upon whom, the paper asserted, "the sun never sets". The opposition weekly newspaper Al-Arabi issued by the Nasserist Party adopted a more aggressive tone in writing "Ministers out of order". According to the newspaper's reporter Said El-Sewirki, "Egypt has been afflicted with successive cabinets, and the country is still suffering crises in various sectors resulting from the failed policies of these governments, the most recent of which is that of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid. Some of its members have been in their positions for almost a quarter of a century without providing one single achievement except stifling the Egyptians with their perpetual existence." El-Sewirki points out "violations and transgressions by many of these ministers. Egypt's agriculture has been destroyed, and journalists (writing about corruption in the Ministry of Agriculture) are being imprisoned. The Ministry of Housing works against the poor and its record is one of rampant abuse. Pension money has been stolen and pensioners tormented. The health of Egyptians is at risk, with no-one to turn to but God. Finally the zero with which Egypt suffered in its bid to host the 2010 World Cup caught the concerned ministry [of youth] red-handed as it wallowed, deep in slumber." On Iraq and Palestine, coverage and commentary pursued the usual criticism of US and Israeli policies, drawing parallels between both situations. Of the chaos and conflict which are increasingly characterising the situation in Iraq, Al-Musawwar 's editor Makram Mohamed Ahmed wrote: "In what seemed more like a funeral, the handover by Americans of sovereign rule to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi took place in a clandestine and sparsely attended ceremony, of which the Iraqi people heard nothing until it was over." Expressing scepticism towards the sovereignty purportedly wielded by the transitional Iraqi government, Mohamed Ahmed writes, "This will be under the protection of American troops who will 'safeguard' its members' lives." The writer adds that while it is true that the Iraqi people support their new government in the hope that it can offset the destruction and death racking Iraq ever since the American invasion, "the vulnerable point remains, that this is a government of limited validity and authority, ruled by conditions set out by the American occupation, laws which may not be repealed, and the presence of individuals appointed in their positions for the coming five years." The writer asserts that "everyone believes that [US civil administrator Paul] Bremer's departure will signify nothing, since his authority and influence will be transferred to the new American ambassador." Of the highly publicised trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, satirist Ahmed Ragab wrote in the national daily Al-Akhbar on Sunday, "Of course, the US cannot put Saddam on trial for that most awful of all acts in his black history, which was to bring in the American occupation to the Gulf and then Iraq. He might one day be repaid by the Americans for this favour, after the end of the trial, which is headed by a young and inexperienced lawyer whom Saddam gobbled up in the first session." Al-Akhbar 's Editor-in-Chief Galal Dowidar launched one of his typically searing attacks on what he called "Bush's fallacies!" Referring to a lecture delivered by the American president at a Turkish university on the dissemination of democracy in the Middle East, Dowidar writes, "Yes, we are against terrorism wherever it may be, and against the killing of all innocent people including the Israelis. But what about the killing, destruction and destitution of the innocent inflicted by Israeli forces in Palestinian lands? Is this fair and legitimate in Bush's view, and the view of the democracy and freedom with which he would like us to subscribe to?" Sawt Al-Umma 's Editor-in-Chief Adel Hammouda on Sunday devoted a two-page spread to what he termed "Nine scoops, from Munich to Sharm El-Sheikh". These included an upcoming visit to Egypt on 20 July by US Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, in which he will meet with President Mubarak as well as with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt. Another scoop on cabinet changes stated that "it is not probable that Safwat El-Sherif will continue as secretary-general of the National Democratic Party (NDP). A new secretary will be chosen who will be either State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli, Presidential Chief of Staff Zakariya Azmi, or head of the NDP Policies Committee Gamal Mubarak." A third scoop highlighted in the paper's headlines was that of "the departure in January of the American Ambassador David Welch from Egypt after leaving a bad impression with Egyptians". Hammouda says he learnt from diplomatic sources that the new American ambassador "will be somebody called Nancy". "Perhaps after the tension which characterised former Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer's relationship with the Egyptian press, and the excessive interventions by Welch into Egypt's internal affairs which reminded Egyptians of the colonial British high commissioners, the Americans have decided to appoint a woman this time in the hope that matters might improve."
