13 new faces join Madbuly Cabinet, media prohibits ‘negative’ coverage of certain outgoing ministers

On Sunday, 13 new faces were sworn into the ministerial line-up in a move that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said was intended “to develop the government performance in some important files at both the domestic and foreign level.”

Following over a year of rumors anticipating a Cabinet reshuffle, the House of Representatives received the presidential decree regarding the reshuffle late on Friday evening. Lawmakers were summoned out of their summer recess to attend an emergency session at the House at noon on Saturday, where they reviewed and voted to approve the presidential proposition within just 14 minutes. 

Not all were content with the changes, with the parliamentary committees of the opposition Egyptian Social Democratic Party and the Justice Party voting against the decree. “I was disappointed,” Justice Party head Abdel Moneim Imam told Mada Masr, adding that he was hoping the reshuffle would entail more sweeping changes to the economic portfolios. “There’s no change of policies — only of faces,” he lamented. 

Outgoing from office are Hala Zayed, who has been on medical leave from the helm of the Health Ministry since October when news of a bribery scandal in her ministry involving her ex-husband emerged, and Nabila Makram from the Emigration and Expatriate Affairs Ministry, after she faced public scrutiny earlier this year upon news of her son’s trial on murder charges in the United States. 

Also departing are Mohamed Abdel Aty from the Irrigation Ministry, Hisham Tawfik from the Public Enterprise Ministry, Tarek Shawky from the Education Ministry, Nevine Gamea from the Trade and Industry Ministry, Mohamed Saafan from the Manpower Ministry, Khaled al-Anany from the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry, Inas Abdel Dayem from the Culture Ministry, Major General Mahmoud Shaarawy from the Local Development Ministry, Major General Mohamed Ahmed Morsi from the Military Production Ministry and Mohamed Manar from the Civil Aviation Ministry. 

Critical coverage of certain former ministers was prohibited in directives issued on Saturday by the intelligence-owned United Media Services company, which runs a number of the country’s leading news outlets. A well-informed source at the media conglomerate who spoke to Mada Masr on condition of anonymity said the internal directive specified that criticism of outgoing ministers of education and public enterprise, Shawky and Tawfik, should not be circulated, that any educational groups glad of Shawky’s departure should not be covered, nor should any of the major issues affecting the state industrial companies that fell under Tawfik’s ministry. The directive also bars mention of former minister Makram in relation to her son’s trial in the United States for murder. 

Outlets managed by UMS were also instructed to adhere to only positive information and news on the new ministers, the source added, while phone interviews with any of them should first be approved by company management after a review of the interview questions. “Controversial questions regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” should not be directed to the new irrigation minister, and management should review any comments by the minister before publication. 

As of Saturday, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbuly’s cabinet was joined by all of the following:

Hani Sewilam as water resources and irrigation minister. Sewilam was a member of the technical committee in African Union-hosted negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. He was a professor of sustainable development and water resources management at the American University in Cairo and the founding director of the AUC’s Center for Sustainable Development, which oversees research for water desalination using solar energy, a key feature of Egypt’s water security strategy. Sewilam is also director of the Department of Engineering Hydrology at the RWTH Aachen University, Germany, and executive director of the UNESCO Chair on Hydrological Changes and Water Resources Management. 

Ahmed Samir as trade and industry minister. Samir was a sitting MP for the Nation’s Future Party until Sunday, heading the House Economic Affairs Committee and representing 6th of October City from 2016 until his nomination for ministerial office over the weekend.

Mahmoud Esmat as public enterprise minister. Esmat was previously director of the Egyptian Holding Company for Airport and Air Navigation from 2014 to 2016, and he chaired the Cairo Airport Company board of directors from 2013 to 2014. 

Ahmed Eissa Taha as tourism and antiquities minister. Eissa has a background as an accountant, moving between a number of banking and executive jobs in the financial sector. His last was as CEO of retail banking at CIB. Previously, Eissa headed the private security firm Falcon Group, from 2012 to 2014. Falcon was contracted to handle major portfolios, including security at 15 universities nationwide, and for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s 2014  presidential campaign headquarters. 

Major General Hisham Amna as local development minister. Amna spent the majority of his service in the Republican Guard, ascending to assistant chief of the Armed Forces division before moving in 2018 to a civil post as governor of Beheira. 

Hassan Shehata as manpower minister. Shehata was formerly a unionist, chosen in June through the murky process of elections to the state-controlled Egyptian Trade Union Federation to serve a four-year term as its secretary general. Shehata is to resign his post as ETUF head, according to the federation’s vice president Magdy al-Bedawy, who told Mada Masr that the union board will meet to appoint a stand-in in his stead. Calling Shehata’s appointment “shocking and unexpected” in labor circles, the independent Center for Trade Union and Workers Services criticized the conflict of interest entailed in appointing the leader of the country’s most powerful trade union to serve as the state’s top official on labor affairs.

Reda Hegazy as education minister. Hegazy is a former deputy minister for teachers' affairs, a post he held since 2019. He also acted as director of high school exams and as deputy head of the ministry’s exams administration from 2019–2022.

Khaled Abdel Ghaffar as health minister. From 2017 until Sunday, Abdel Ghaffar was minister for higher education and scientific research and had served simultaneously as acting health minister since October 2021 when Hala Zayed took medical leave. Abdel Ghaffar is a dentist by trade and became the head of the dentistry faculty at the state’s Ain Shams University in 2014. 

Mohamed Ayman Ashour as higher education and scientific research minister. Ashour was formerly a deputy to the ministry for university affairs from 2020 onward and dean of the Ain Shams Engineering Faculty from 2014 to 2019. Ashour is also director of the Leaders Development Institute, a body that runs leadership programs in various specialties to qualify potential candidates for official positions. 

Soha Gendi as minister of emigration and expatriate affairs. Nashed is a diplomat who served as deputy head of Egypt’s permanent delegation to the United Nations in New York from 2006 to 2010 and as ambassador to Ireland from 2015 to 2019. Nashed most recently served as assistant foreign minister for African affairs. 

Nevine al-Kilany as culture minister. Kilani had served as the chairperson of the Cultural Development Fund since 2017 and dean of the Higher Institute of Art Criticism at the ministry-run Academy of Arts, and previously worked in public relations for the Cairo Opera House. 

Major General Mohamed Salah Eddin as military production minister. Like his predecessor, Salah Eddin is a military man who was first assigned to an administrative post in 2016, when he was appointed as deputy head to the Armed Forces’ artillery corps and later as deputy head of the ministry’s National Organization for Military Production.

Lieutenant General Mohamed Abbas Helmy as civil aviation minister. Helmy served as commander of the Egyptian Air Force from 2018 until his Cabinet appointment and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in 2020.