Egypt's government officials came under fire from pundits for all sorts of reasons while the upcoming direct talks between Palestinians and Israelis were not spared similar attacks. Rasha Saad and Mohamed El-Sayed witnessed the gunfire A spate of accumulated problems afflicting the country the past few weeks caused pundits and columnists to launch strongly-worded criticism of the government's performance. The string of woes started with power outages, skyrocketing prices of basic commodities, a shortage of drinking water, and most recently the theft of Vincent Van Gogh's Poppy Flowers from the downtown Mahmoud Khalil Museum. The concurrence of these events has apparently embarrassed the political leadership. "President Mubarak holds meeting with the cabinet to review the government's policies and his electoral programme," read the headline of the daily official Al-Akhbar. "Mubarak gives directives to ministers to find quick solutions for the problems in public services," read another headline. Pro-government newspapers in general highlighted the extensive meeting of the president with the cabinet ministers, especially at a time when the country is gearing up for parliamentary elections in November. While official newspapers tried to portray the meeting as an all-important one that will bring about a drastic change in the quality of government services, opposition writers begged to differ. "If we look at the spate of government failures in basic infrastructure like water and electricity and then wheat and lastly the theft of the Poppy Flowers, you will not find any trace of the promises in the president's electoral programme [issued in 2005]," wrote Mohamed Amin in the daily opposition Al-Wafd. Other columnists like the veteran Salama Ahmed Salama lashed out at Egypt's outdated bureaucracy and the way government officials evade responsibility. Writing in the daily independent Al-Shorouk, Salama argued, "We've never seen an Egyptian minister admitting his responsibility or tendering his resignation for committing a grave mistake." He added, "It's as if holding a minister to account is a shameful act that should be hidden." Salama lamented that "in Egypt, ministers are not brought to trial whatever the reasons may be... therefore the furore over the theft of the Poppy Flowers painting will continue and the minister will continue to trade accusations with his assistants until the storm settles down, the painting is found or a new painting is stolen." In a sarcastic conclusion, Salama said he believed that "ministers in Egypt are not held accountable, do not resign and do not commit suicide like [ministers] in Japan, for every country has its own customs and traditions." As if not content with the series of failures they were involved in, many a minister want to secure a parliamentary seat in the upcoming elections. Writing in the same vein, Mahmoud Mosallam exposed in the daily independent Al-Masry Al-Yom the reasons behind ministers' keenness to become members of parliament in addition to keeping their ministerial positions -- a tradition not found in any true democracy. "Ministers in Egypt are not politicised. Therefore, they lack interaction with the public," Mosallam opined. The writer continued, "therefore, they seek parliamentary seats for these reasons: enjoying parliamentary immunity for five years, and securing themselves should they lose their jobs as ministers." The problem with combining a ministerial and a parliamentary position is that they contradict each other, according to the writer. "A minister who is elected an MP does not play a parliamentary role or monitor the government's performance. In addition, they rarely attend parliament's sessions," Amin concluded. The history and future of Egypt's biggest opposition force, the Muslim Brotherhood, caused more ink to flow. The Brotherhood became the talk of the town during the holy month of Ramadan because of a first-of-its-kind, much publicised soap opera, Al-Gamaa, which narrates the story of the group and is currently being aired on TV. According to news reports, sales of the books on the group and its founder Hassan El-Banna have hit unprecedented highs following the first episodes of the series. Meanwhile, prominent expert in political Islamist movements Diaa Rashwan reflected on the challenges lying ahead of the 82-year-old group, especially at a time when the country is preparing for the parliamentary elections. "The most difficult challenge facing the Muslim Brotherhood today is not the routine battle with the government to which they have become accustomed... but their face-off with the opposition forces and wide segments of the Egyptian elite," Rashwan wrote in Al-Shorouk. The writer argued that "the Muslim Brotherhood is at a crossroads: there will be repercussions if they don't take the initiative and better coordinate their relations with the opposition forces and review their conservative political thoughts to which they firmly adhere." Rashwan is of the opinion that the Muslim Brotherhood should change a set of principles to which its conservative leadership sticks to. "The gap between the Brotherhood and opposition forces is further widened as a result of the group's insistence on their rejection of a woman or a non-Muslim as president of the republic," he added. "There is a consensus among the opposition forces that the Brotherhood should review its positions as far as this issue is concerned, for it undermines the principle of equal opportunity," he concluded. On a different note, many a columnist this week tried to outline some of the characteristics of, and the contradictions within, the Egyptian personality. Writing in Al-Masry Al-Yom, Youssri Fouda strongly criticised Egyptians for many reasons. "Egyptians are the only people on earth who boast buying imported [goods]," Fouda wrote, hinting at a growing trend in Egyptian society that started in the past few decades with the beginning of the open-door policy adopted during the presidency of Anwar El-Sadat. "Egyptians are the only people on earth who consider the whiteness of a woman's skin as the sign of ultimate beauty, regardless of any other element," he noted. "In Egypt, people boast when a woman is of Turkish origin or if she was born in London. For God's sake, why all this self-hatred?"
