Egyptian Cabinet Takes Oath

August 3, 2012

Egyptian government led by Prime Minister Hesham Qandil was sworn in before President Mohamed Morsi on Thursday.
The 35-member cabinet consists mainly of new members although it includes several key ministers who served under President Hosni Mubarak.
Hussein Tantawi, the chief of Egypt’s military council who was the de facto head of state since Mubarak’s ouster in February 2011 until Morsi’s inauguration as president in June, retained his post as defense minister which he has held since 1991.
Mohamed Amr was also reappointed as foreign minister, Mumtaz al-Said as finance minister, Ali Sabri as minister of military production, Mohamed Ibrahim as minister of antiques, Nagva Halil as social security minister and Nadiye Zahari as minister of scientific research.
A U.S.-educated engineer and former minister of water resources, Qandil has been dubbed “the first bearded Egyptian minister,” in reference to his links to the Islamists.
Meanwhile, only four of the newly appointed ministers are members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP). They will be in charge of higher education, housing, youth, and mass media.
Speaking at a news conference in Cairo ahead of the ceremony, Qandil declared his cabinet a “people’s government” and called on Egyptians to “rally behind our elected president and to work with the government to achieve all of our goals.”
Those goals include improving the living standards in Egypt, ensuring freedom and social justice, he said. He also called for unity among Egyptians without religious discrimination.”We have to stop asking who is a Copt, a Muslim or a Salafi. I don’t see that. All I see is that we are all Egyptians and this should be the main principle,” he said.