CAIRO: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf sacked the eight governors on Thursday, according to State TV. The governors of Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Qena, Suez, Menoufia, Assuit and Sharqia were removed in response to the demands of opposition groups and political activists, who described them as being “corrupt” and “illegitimate”. Sharaf met a number of potential candidates to fill the vacated positions, including Abdel Qawi Khalifa for Cairo, Ali Abdel Rahman for Giza, Essam Salem for Alexandria, Adel Zaid for Qalyoubia, former General Mohamed Abdel Monem Hashem for Suez and former General Ibrahim Hammad for Assuit. The governorates of Sixth of October and Helwan were also cancelled and reincorporated into Giza and Cairo governorates respectively. Mohamed Adel, member of the April 6 Youth Movement, however still believed there was room for more sweeping changes. “Eight governors out of 26 is a very small number, we still have a long way to go,” he told Daily News Egypt. “We need to change all the heads of institutions from the former regime, including local councils,” Adel said. Rashad Bayoumi, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, agreed. “The local councils, the deans of universities and all the governors who were assigned by the former corrupt regime must be changed,” he said. “All these officials were affected by the former corrupt regime and were most probably involved in stealing and squandering public funds,” he added. “All the governors, local councils and deans should be elected by the people,” Karima Al-Hifnawy, member of the National Association for Change and prominent member of the Kefaya Movement for Change told DNE. “This is a positive step in the direction, but we hope it will lead to executing the rest of our demands soon,” she added.
