Abdel Fattah Omar, parliament's national security undersecretary, launched a withering attack on Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali in Tuesday's parliamentary session over the latter's controversial economic policies. "The minister doesn't pay attention to anyone and is hated by both the government and the people alike," said Omar. "I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up assassinated like his grandfather." Boutros-Ghali's grandfather served as Egyptian prime minister from 1908 to 1910. He was assassinated in 1910 following accusations of entertaining sympathies for Egypt's British colonial occupiers. Omar went on to urge the Interior Ministry to lead the government so as to "restore order," both among government ministries and on the street. "Because certain ministers have taken wrong decisions, the Interior Ministry has had to deal with street demonstrations," he said, calling on Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif to punish those ministers found responsible for popular protests. Dr. Hamdi el-Sayed, head of parliament's health committee, ordered that the word "assassination" be struck from the minutes of the session. "But I agree we get headaches from the many wrong decisions taken by certain ministers," said el-Sayed, noting that the Egyptian Medical Association--of which he is the formal head--had seen several recent protests against Boutros-Ghali's ministry, which has been accused of ignoring longstanding grievances on the part of Egyptian doctors. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
