One third of the new Egyptian Cabinet are members of the Muslim Brotherhood. Public frustration in Egypt is rising after the new cabinet shuffle sees more Islamists and Muslim Brotherhood loyalists in power. The shuffle failed to bring in a moderate Cabinet aimed at improving the livelihood of struggling Egyptians and to oversee parliamentary elections later this year. President Mohamed Morsi's administration has been repeatedly criticized for expanding their power greatly and taking over the majority of critical public offices. The new shuffle raises the number of ministers from the Brotherhood to 35 in total, or about one-third of the cabinet. President Morsi has even decided to assign two ministers who supported him in his talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to become ministers in the new Cabinet shuffle. The controversial loan, which was unwelcome by the public, saw great effort from Morsi and his group to achieve over $4.8 billion in loan agreements, which will be followed by great austerity measures, making it controversial from the public's perspective. Egyptians already suffer from the consequences of inflation, price hikes and unemployment as a result of a weakened economy. Prime minister Hisham Qandeel has assigned 9 new ministers, including Amr Darag, the head of the foreign affairs committee at the Freedom and Justice Party – the Brotherhood's political party – and is now the new minister for planning and international cooperation. The FJP members also took control over the ministry of agriculture, monetary affairs and the investment ministry. The recent shuffle also kept the minister of media in his position after great public anger and lawsuits following him. He has been dubbed the "harasser minister", after he responded to a number of female journalists using sexual suggestions and connotations and called a TV host ‘hot' on her news program. BN
