CAIRO - In his Government, the new Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has introduced a new post at the Ministry of Agriculture – Deputy Minister for Animal Wealth. He has done this at the behest of veterinarians and animal researchers, who want a special Ministry for Animal Wealth, responsible for the supervision, production and development of animal wealth. During a meeting with the Prime Minister, veterinarians acquainted Sharaf with the huge problems facing the sector, describing the corruption and weak supervision of animal production in general and suggesting some solutions. This positive step was immediately met with the promise of appointing a deputy minister for animal wealth, who will appoint all the temporary workers and veterinarians working in this sector. This practical decision will settle one of the many big problems facing the Government. In the same manner, each minister in the new Government can defuse the tension in the different sectors and institutions affiliated to his/her ministry. Whether the demonstrations and strikes erupting in different institutions have been provoked by the workers' huge problems or certain people in the toppled regime who want to derail the revolution and create chaos, officials should try and defuse this tension to restore social stability. It is unacceptable to see the Premier spending all day moving from one demonstration to another, listening to the revolutionaries and promising to solve their problems. After being named Prime Minister designate, Sharaf headed to the iconic Al Tahrir Square to gain the approval of the demonstrators and promise to meet all their demands. The idea was to convince everyone to give Sharaf space to work on fulfilling his promises. On the very day he was sworn in, he went to the Radio and TV building in central Cairo to reassure angry Coptic protesters that he would meet their demands and rebuild their church in a village south of Cairo that was torched. Then he went to the demonstration of the archaeologists who want their archaeological authority separated from the Ministry of Culture. If Sharaf continues to defuse all this tension by himself, he won't have time to sit in his office to get on with other important work and make his promises come true.
