CAIRO: Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah engaged in an on-air verbal spat with Al-Ahram editor Ahmed Moussa and outspoken television presenter Amr Adib, when the two implied that he was exploiting his position as minister to expand his private business. Moussa appeared Tuesday on Adib's popular nightly talk show "Al-Qahira Al-Youm (Cairo Today) on Orbit, where they discussed how key positions in government are held by businessmen, suggesting that they use their influence to draft regulations that serve their vested interests. They specifically cited Garranah, claiming that the 17 Egyptian tourism offices offshore cater to Garranah's company, Garranah Tours, rather than to Egypt as a whole. "The people, Adib said referring to the authorities, "have this information and they must have reacted in one of two ways after they investigated the issue. Adib suggested that the government either did not prove anything of the sort, or it did but chose to look the other way. Those accusations prompted Garranah to phone in and accuse Adib's show of "constantly attacking and tarnishing Egypt's image. "Your attack is baseless as I haven't set foot at Garranah Tours in four years [since he became minister]. I sold my shares in the company when it was already one of the biggest tourism companies in Egypt before I became minister, he said, adding that his children are the ones currently running it. The conversation quickly turned into a heated spat between Garranah and Moussa, who openly accused the minister of using his position to expand his private business. He cited the recent partnership between Garranah's company and a well-known businessman to run a hotel chain in Egypt. "This goes back to the accomplishments of the company which made the businessman partner with the company, it has nothing to do with me being the Minister of Tourism, Garranah refuted. Moussa also pointed out that Garranah was selling land on the Red Sea to businessman Samih Sawiris for $1 per acre. "All of Egypt bought this land with this price, there wasn't any favoritism, Garranah answered, adding that it's their responsibility to encourage Egyptian businessmen to invest in Egypt. Garranah urged the hosts to provide concrete evidence when making these kinds of allegations on air, to which Moussa said, "This is what happened today, you called in to explain your point of view but you've neither confirmed nor denied what we said. Garranah confidently replied by saying that there are monitoring authorities, adding "I don't need documents to prove I'm innocent. "Because I'm not a troublemaker, I called in to respond, however I could have easily taken this to court and sued you for defamation. The "businessmen experiment, which means having businessmen hold ministerial positions started in 2004 when Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif took the helm of Egypt's Cabinet, caused a public outcry, with skepticism surrounding the ministers' integrity. "Having businessmen as civil servants is an ongoing debate on the Egyptian street, some are arguing that it is good as these people make decisions based on years of experience in the market and others are arguing that they are extremely biased in their decisions to benefit their own businesses, Sameh Ghoneim, a businessman in the agriculture sector, told Daily News Egypt. Examples Adib mentioned were the Minister of Housing Ahmed El Maghraby's decision to auction public land - which caused land prices to soar - claiming that increasing his own lands' price was his ulterior motive. He also cited Minister of Transport Mohamed Mansour who, when the ministry opted to buy tow trucks, was inclined towards the American brand. Adib suggested that his position as former head of the American Chamber of Commerce may have clouded his judgment. "A few regulations will solve the matter, we are not pointing fingers at any specific person, we need something that tells the people that there isn't any conflict of interest and whether the ministers are making these decisions for personal or public welfare, Adib concluded.
