"Egypt’s leader names a prime minister; Educated in US, technocrat is largely unknown" by Simon Denyer | Washington Post, July 25, 2012
CAIRO — Egypt’s president appointed a new prime minister on Tuesday, asking Hesham Kandil — a US-educated technocrat currently serving as water and irrigation minister — to form a new government.
It took President Mohammed Morsi more than three weeks to make the appointment, and the elevation of Kandil came as a surprise.
Kandil, who was born in 1962, will be the first Egyptian prime minister to wear a beard, a clear sign of change in a country where such an outward display of Islamic piety was long outlawed.
Morsi, who took power three weeks ago after last month’s elections, is already Egypt’s first bearded president.
News of the appointment was met with bafflement on the streets of Cairo, where few people recognized their new prime minister’s name, and by disappointment in financial markets, where investors were hoping for an experienced economist who could stave off the threat of a budget crisis.
Morsi had promised to appoint someone from outside the Muslim Brotherhood party to form a unity government, but the fact that Kandil is bearded was seen as a sign of his social and political leanings.
Yeah, okay (sigh). Did you know that if he had a goatee that would mean he's gay?
In an interview with Al-Jazeera last year, Kandil denied being affiliated to any Islamist group but said he had grown his beard out of a sense of religious duty.
In a brief and hastily scheduled news conference, Kandil said he would work closely with Morsi to form a technocratic government where competency would be the primary criterion for ministerial appointments. But he gave no time frame for forming the Cabinet.
‘‘We must retrieve the spirit of the revolution to build Egypt,’’ Kandil said, adding that his government would work to implement Morsi’s promises for his first 100 days as president.
‘‘We are in a difficult stage and have many challenges facing us. There are economic and security problems, and there is pressure on resources, but the core is the president’s program.’’
Kandil earned a master’s degree from Utah State University in 1988 and a doctorate in irrigation from North Carolina State University in 1993. He has served as a senior bureaucrat in the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation and as chief water resources engineer at the African Development Bank.
Like Morsi, he returned when other do not.
Last July, he was appointed to take over the irrigation ministry in a government controlled by Egypt’s military leaders, who effectively ran the country between the fall of president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and the election of Morsi.
Activist and lawyer Gamal Eid said he would have preferred a prime minister who was completely untainted by association with the military, but he said the time to judge Kandil would be when he formed his government.
‘‘New faces with acceptance on the street are always better,’’ he said. ‘‘There’s rejection and discomfort toward anyone brought in by Mubarak or the Military Council.’’
With the military still wielding immense power in Egypt, it was not clear how much control Kandil would be able to exert over the choice of key roles, such as the ministers of defense, foreign affairs, and interior.
A host of more experienced candidates had been suggested for the prime minister’s role, but in the end Morsi appeared to follow in the Egyptian presidential tradition of appointing a prime minister unlikely to threaten or overshadow him, analysts said.
‘‘The president did not want to have a powerful person to be his prime minister,’’ said Mustapha Kamel al-Sayyid, a professor of political science at Cairo University and head of the firm Partners in Development for Research, Consulting, and Training. ‘‘The Muslim Brotherhood do not want someone who would challenge them when it comes to the relationship between religion and politics.’’
Sayyid said Kandil’s lack of economic expertise, the fact that he did not have time to establish a track record as minister of irrigation, and his lack of experience running ministerial committees were all matters of concern.
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What's in the rest of the cabinet?
"New Egypt cabinet reflects old school; Many appointees are ex-ministers of government" by Kareem Fahim and Mayy El Sheikh | New York Times, August 03, 2012
As I began towork on this article I realized it is a total rewrite from what is in my paper.
CAIRO — Egypt’s president swore in members of his first Cabinet on Thursday, marking another milestone in the country’s difficult transition even as reports of deadly violence complicated the new government’s work.
At least three people were killed in unrelated clashes between the security forces and residents, in Cairo and in a village in southern Egypt, witnesses and security officials said.
On Thursday night, President Mohammed Morsi met with his ministers at the presidential palace, the state news media reported. The makeup of the Cabinet, which includes longtime state employees and at least six former government ministers, has lowered expectations of a sweeping change in governance that was the promise of last year’s revolt.
In selecting technocrats, rather than high-profile appointees from across the political spectrum, Morsi and his prime minister, Hesham Kandil, showed a preference for cautious — and incremental — change as they face a series of mounting crises. They also made no moves to antagonize Egypt’s military, which holds most of the power in the country. The defense minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, kept his post.
Not for much longer.
One appointment, though, represented a bold stroke. In naming Ahmed Mekky, a longtime activist for judicial independence, as justice minister, Morsi and his prime minister seemed to be taking on Egypt’s most powerful judges, whose reputation for politicized decisions has emerged as one of the primary challenges to Morsi’s leadership.
Two of the 35 ministers are women, and only one is a Coptic Christian, state news media reported. Christians make up roughly 10 percent of the population. At least five ministers are directly affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood. Members of an ultraconservative Islamist faction known as Salafis boycotted the Cabinet after they were offered only one ministry, according to local news reports.
Kandil said he had paid no attention to party affiliation, sect, religion or gender in making his choices. ‘‘All I see is Egyptians,’’ he said.
On Thursday afternoon, as Egyptians debated the complexion of the new Cabinet, a deadly episode in central Cairo — wrapped in charges of corruption, class inequalities and complaints about police abuse — was a vivid reminder of the difficulties facing the new government.
My printed paper played up the sectarian angle.
At least one man was killed and dozens of people were injured after a dispute about wages outside a luxury hotel led to clashes between riot police and the residents of a neighboring slum.
???????
A series of recent articles in the English-language weekly Egypt Independent detailed the struggles of the slum’s residents to keep their land, which is coveted by the state and local property developers.
At the same time, many young men in the area earn their living from the development, having struck a deal to provide security after protecting the towers during the January 2011 revolt.
According to witnesses, the clashes started after a young man, Amr el-Bunni, went to collect his payment. The witnesses said he argued with police officers, and one shot Bunni twice, killing him.
As riot police stormed the neighborhood, a vendor, Yahya Abdul-Halim, watched and asked, ‘‘Is this the new interior minister’s first day?’’
Abdul-Halim, who was a friend of Bunni, shooed away several police officers who tried to buy tea from his stand. ‘‘We want to be treated as human beings,’’ he said.
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What I wanted from my Globe:
"Lengthy power and water outages in Cairo and across the nation of some 82 million people have been sending thousands to the streets to protest daily....
I guess the Globe doesn't want to give Americans any ideas.
The popular discontent has spread to the gates of Morsi's presidential palace in Cairo's leafy suburb of Heliopolis where hundreds gather every day to express a wide range of grievances or to demand jobs, better medical care or housing. Morsi opened two offices to receive citizens' complaints....
Yeah, they DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT to give Americans any ideas!
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I'm disappointed in my Globe.
