A limited cabinet reshuffle sparks a host of rumours, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Before leaving for Saudi Arabia to participate in the 11 March mini-Arab summit President Hosni Mubarak ordered a limited cabinet reshuffle. Mohamed Nasreddin Allam, the 57- year-old chairman of the irrigation department at Cairo University's Faculty of Engineering, was appointed as minister of irrigation and water resources, replacing Mahmoud Abu Zeid, minister of irrigation and water resources since 1997. In addition Mushira Khattab, former secretary-general of the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), was placed in charge of a new portfolio, Family and Population, split from the former Ministry of Health and Population. The move boosted the number of cabinet ministries from 31 to 32. Allam obtained a bachelor degree in civil engineering from Cairo University in 1975. He went on to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he gained a masters degree, and has been a major contributor to developing Egypt's long-term irrigation and water resources strategy. Khattab, 65-years old, graduated from Cairo University's Faculty of Economics and Political Science in 1966. She has served as an ambassador in several countries, including Czechoslovakia and South Africa. In December 1999 she became secretary- general of the NCCM. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif has said that Allam's major task will be to strengthen Egypt's relations with the eight Nile Basin countries. "Egypt needs an additional nine billion cubic metres of water to bring a further half a million feddans under cultivation in order to meet the food needs of its growing population," explains Nazif. "This task will be facilitated by a new pair of hands at the Irrigation Ministry." Increasing Egypt's quota of Nile water will be no easy task. "Agriculture currently consumes 85 per cent of the country's quota of River Nile water," says Allam. "There is a pressing need in the coming period to step up cooperation with African Nile Basin countries in terms of establishing joint irrigation and agriculture projects." Meanwhile, the government, said Nazif, "will be placing a great deal of focus on issues relating to motherhood and childhood". The creation of an independent ministry for family and population affairs reflected the government's increasingly integrated vision of human development. Several councils will be put under the purview of the new ministry, including the NCCM, the National Council for Population and the Anti-Narcotics Fund. The Ministry of Population was created in 1994 as an independent portfolio only to be revoked in 1996. In 1997 the Ministry of Health was reordered to include the population portfolio. Khattab stated that the separation of population portfolio from the ministry of health reflected growing concern about the runaway growth of the population. "President [Hosni] Mubarak strongly believes that birth control should be a top concern in the next period and that this crucial issue should be tackled by an independent ministry," she said. The 11 March reshuffle took commentators by surprise, spawning the usual round of conspiracy theories. According to presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad, former minister Abu Zeid was relieved of his position for health reasons. This was later denied by Abu Zeid. "I was surprised by a phone call from Prime Minister Nazif early on the morning of 10 March informing me that Allam would be the new minister of irrigation," he said. Conflicting accounts of the reasons behind Abu Zeid's dismissal led to speculation that his sacking was connected to the complaints of the Sudanese government of President Omar Al-Bashir, known to be unhappy with Abu Zeid's willingness to cooperate with tribes opposed to Khartoum. Others have suggested that his removal was done at the request of businessmen who have invested in the Toshka land reclamation project, among them Saudi prince Al-Walid bin Talal. It has been rumoured that Talal believed Abu Zeid was not doing enough to implement the irrigation network required to give a boost to the Toshka project. It is Toshka, says an informed source within the Ministry of Agriculture, "that was the straw that broke the camel's back". Despite LE6 billion being spent on the project no more than 30,000 feddans have been reclaimed. "The target was to reclaim 400,000 feddans within 10 years. Sluggish performance at the Ministry of Irrigation has caused the figure to shrink to just 30,000," said the source. A third theory that has gained currency is that Abu Zeid was sacked because of his opposition to making farmers pay for the water they use. This theory is groundless because Allam said this week that Nazif had told him that the government has no plans to charge for water supplied to farmers, and no intention of selling water to Israel. The confusion surrounding Abu Zeid's removal contrasts with the consensus over the appointment of Khattab. Few commentators doubt that her closeness to First Lady Suzanne Mubarak secured her the new portfolio. Khattab's appointment is likely to anger MPs belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. When amendments to the child law came up for discussion in the People's Assembly last year Brotherhood MPs attacked Khattab, accusing her of implementing a Western agenda by criminalising female genital mutilation. The limited reshuffle is also likely to disappoint leftist MPs. "It means that Nazif will remain as prime minister and that there is support for his pro-business and privatisation policies," points out left-leaning MP Mohamed Shaaban.
