Egypt’s New Cabinet: More of the Same
Nervana Mahmoud writes that the new cabinet announced by President Mohammed Morsi offers little prospect for progress or change.
Tuesday’s Cabinet reshuffle [May 7] shed little light on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s leadership and what the Muslim Brotherhood’s plan is for Egypt, at least for the next few months.
In the eyes of many, Morsi has not improved the government; he kept his much-criticized, colorless Prime Minister Hesham Qandil, then he appointed some new faces who were neither qualified nor experienced enough to run the country at this critical juncture. In addition, the premature leaks of “imminent reshuffle,” before cementing any deal with the proposed candidates for ministerial changes, has exposed the reluctance of many technocrats and politicians to join this government, and also reflected the current state of uncertainty in Egypt.
This view is based on the assumption that the reshuffle is aimed at addressing Egypt‘s political and economics woes. It is not — the current leadership has three goals from the new reshuffle: 1) to create a false perception that it is tackling Egypt’s problems, particularly on the economic front; 2) to portray the opposition as uncooperative by keeping Qandil as prime minister and thus successfully managing to put many off from joining the government, justifying appointing more Muslim Brotherhood cadres as ministers; and 3) as Issander el-Amrani argues, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) is working according to party logic, where members want to maximize their personal power that correlates with the Muslim Brotherhood's wider logic of placing its faithful in positions of influence.
Morsi has yet to formulate a solid plan for Egypt’s long-standing economic and political problems. His foreign trips are part of his efforts to look for answers and solutions. Therefore, during this delicate stage, loyalty is more important than experience.
