Features: Trash control

In his 100-day plan to address major issues in the country, President Mohamed Mursi announced the Clean Nation Campaign in the hope of cleaning the streets of the cities. While the campaign was hailed by some, it doesn't address the pressing problems of solid wastes management in EgyptWith thousands of volunteers taking part in efforts to clean up Egypt's towns and cities, Mahmoud Bakr takes to the streets to monitor the Clean Nation Campaign Workers at the municiplaities, assisted by volunteers, cleaned and swiped the streets. Mustafa Hussein Kamel (below left), the minister of state for environment, supervised the cleaning efforts

The Clean Nation Campaign, announced by President Mohamed Mursi as part of a 100-day plan to address issues like security, congestion, fuel, bread, and rubbish collection in Egypt, got off to an energetic start on 27 and 28 July, with thousands of volunteers taking part across the country.

Mustafa Hussein Kamel, minister of state for the environment, said that the ministry was using the campaign in order to remove rubbish from the streets, improve pavements, renew street furniture, plant trees and raise awareness of environmental issues in Cairo and Alexandria.

"In order for the streets to remain clean, we also need to select suitable locations for recycling and landfills and to support companies working in cleaning and rubbish collection," he said, adding that cleaning companies and rubbish collectors had historically struggled with technical and financial problems.

In the Cairo districts of Al-Omraniya, Al-Marg and Al-Marioutiya, volunteers helped to remove some 29,000 cubic metres of refuse from the streets. Kamel also inspected a rubbish dump in Al-Marioutiya at which fires have broken out in the past and ordered its removal.

The minister said that the Giza governorate was cleaning up Terat Al-Zumor and Al-Matar in Hayy Shamal at a cost of LE3 million ($0.5 million). He promised to remove a further 15,000 cubic metres of rubbish from the streets of Cairo and Giza.

However, the cleaning efforts are not being confined to the removal of rubbish. Some pavements are being resurfaced, and trees are being planted in various neighbourhoods. Cleaning personnel are also being equipped with better equipment, with the ministry providing ladders, trucks, water tanks, brooms, and other items to facilitate the removal of rubbish and building debris.

Kamel has instructed the regional offices of the Environmental Affairs Agency to launch public-awareness campaigns and to report back to him. Areas being cleaned are being handed over to young people for projects such as parks and nurseries and other environmental programmes.

According to Kamel, cleaning campaigns are now underway in the streets of Al-Sharikat, Al-Sharabiya, Al-Ismailia, Al-Masanei, Al-Zaweya, and Gisr Al-Suweis in Cairo, along with Ahmed Effat and Nabil Taha in Giza. The campaigns are being conducted in cooperation with volunteers and civil society organisations.

Kamel has promised to remove piles of rubbish amounting to some 50,000 cubic metres from Cairo and Giza. The Ministry of State for the Environment is also cooperating with various partners, including the presidency, to find a long-term solution to the rubbish problem.

Cairo Governor Abdel-Qawi Khalifa said that the Clean Nation Campaign aimed to involve people at grass-roots level in cleaning up their own neighbourhoods. Cairo has been divided into 168 residential "squares" in order to facilitate the initiative, he said.

The Ministry of Waqf has also instructed mosque preachers to speak to the public about the importance of keeping the streets clean, and the Supreme Council for Youth, the traffic police, and the municipalities are all part of the efforts being made in the campaign.

According to Khalifa, the Cairo governorate has distributed plastic rubbish bags to houses and has given out 10,000 plastic bags to motorists bearing instructions on ways to keep the capital clean.

Giza Governor Ali Abdel-Rahman said that part of the problem was construction debris that has accumulated in the streets. Abdel-Rahman, who has involved public and private contractors in removing the debris from the streets, said that the real challenge was not cleaning the streets but keeping them clean.

Various government departments and companies are involved in Giza's clean-up efforts, including the Giza governorate, the rubbish-collection companies, the Ministry of State for the Environment, the Arab Contractors Company, the Hassan Allam Company, and several civil society organisations.

The governorate is operating joint patrols of the police and the municipalities in order to prevent dumping. It has also cancelled the contracts of three cleaning companies whose performance has been deemed substandard.

A pilot clean-up project is being conducted in Aswan, with civil society organisations and volunteers collecting rubbish from the Al-Mahmoudiya neighbourhood of the city. The Ministry of State for the Environment is training volunteers and supplying them with equipment to collect, separate and recycle the rubbish.

According to Ali Baraka, who lives in the Hadaeq Al-Qobba neighbourhood in Cairo, his area needs more rubbish bins. Mohamed Nour, who runs an optician's shop in Al-Zawya Al-Hamra, said that people should cooperate with the state authorities in the clean-up campaign.

Whether it will be successful or not should become clear over the coming weeks.

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A dream come true

The Haniyeh-Mursi meeting in Cairo, though low-key and without serious objectives, is confirmation of a new era in Arab politics, writes Khaled Amayreh in the occupied Palestinian territories Mursi and Haniyeh during their meeting in Cairo; Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal during a recent meeting with the Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badei

Hamas's leadership at home and abroad is almost euphoric about Ismail Haniyeh's three-day visit to Cairo and meeting with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi earlier this week.

They have good reason to be more than happy with the newfound chemistry and courtship with Cairo.

Shunned, boycotted and faced with hostility by much of the international community, especially those states falling under Israeli-American influence, the idea of a Hamas prime minister having an audience, let alone a cordial one, with the president of the largest and most powerful Arab country amounted to wishful thinking only a few months ago.

The brazen hostility the former regime of Hosni Mubarak displayed in the face of Palestinian Islamists reached unprecedented highlights when Mubarak and his aides colluded with Israel against Hamas, especially on the eve of, during and immediately after the 2008-9 genocidal Israeli onslaught on the starved and hermetically sealed Gaza Strip.

Mubarak and Israel, by and large, viewed Hamas as a common enemy, with each side having its own particular reasons and considerations. Hamas is the ideological daughter of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak's arch foe, and allowing it to grow and get stronger went against the core of Mubarak's Arab policy. Mubarak was not a Zionist per se, but he knew that a strong Hamas meant a strong Islamist opposition at home.

As to Israel, Hamas was, is and will continue to be an existential threat since the movement doesn't recognise the legitimacy of the Jewish-Zionist occupation of Palestine, and is vehemently unwilling to give up such iconic Palestinian rights as those pertaining to Jerusalem and the right of millions of uprooted refugees to return to their ancestral homeland in what is now Israel.

The meeting between Mursi and Haniyeh didn't lead to dramatic results. President Mursi agreed to help the blockaded Palestinians overcome power and fuel shortages stemming from an unrelenting six-year siege imposed by Israel in order to induce the people of Gaza to rise up against the Islamist movement. The Egyptian leader also promised to facilitate the passage of fuel donated by Qatar to Gaza.

Mursi also agreed to allow Gazans to visit and pass through Egypt on their way abroad. Egypt is currently the only conduit through which the estimated 1.7 million Gazans can access the outside world.

Upon his return to Gaza, Haniyeh affirmed that the Rafah Border Crossing would be opened according to a new policy, excluding heavy-handed Israeli interference. He described his meeting with Mursi as "historic" and reflective of the Egyptian people's will.

But these achievements, though important for thoroughly tormented Gazans, decimated by non-stop Israeli aggressions and Western indifference, are beside the point. The real achievement of the meeting was that it took place at all and the tacit and implicit messages it conveyed to all parties concerned.

To the Israelis, which spared no efforts inciting every state under the sun against Hamas, the message was clear, namely that there is a new reality in Egypt and that the Zionist state must come to terms with it, if it ever wants to maintain an acceptable level of relations with the largest and most powerful Arab country.

To be sure, Hamas doesn't want Egypt to adopt a brazenly bellicose attitude towards Israel, an attitude that could undermine Egyptian interests, at least for the time being. But the Palestinian Islamic movement would like to see Egypt check Israel's phenomenal insolence and recalcitrance vis-?-vis the Palestinians.

And it seems some within the Israeli political establishment are willing to give this way of thinking on Hamas's part the benefit of the doubt.

Last week, an Israeli study concluded that it was necessary to lift the Gaza siege, mainly in order to prevent a further exacerbation in relations with Cairo.

According to Israeli media, researchers at the Institute for National Security Studies advised Israeli leaders to allow the opening of the Rafah Border Crossing and to lift the Gaza siege to avoid a potential military confrontation with Egypt.

The study, which was conducted by senior academic researchers from various disciplines, is based on an analysis of discussions had by Egyptian intellectuals on Facebook and the discourse of journalists since the victory of the Muslim Brotherhood candidate, Mursi, in Egypt's presidential elections.

The mere meeting between Haniyeh and Mursi also sent an unmistakable message to Washington, namely that the Egyptian presidency is not at America's beck and call and that the president of Egypt is responsible and answerable to the Egyptian people first and foremost.

It was inconceivable during Mubarak's era that Washington would allow such a meeting to go ahead without a private or even public rebuke from the White House or the State Department.

The fact that Washington remained silent and issued no comment on the meeting speaks volumes, underscoring the new realities in the Arab world.

The last message the meeting conveyed went to Fatah, the party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.

It is no secret that Fatah viewed with visible consternation the victory of the Brotherhood's presidential candidate, whose assurances that Egypt stood at the same distance from all Palestinian factions didn't assuage the group's fears that the new Egyptian leadership would favour Hamas at Fatah's expense.

Thus, the meeting is expected to further enforce these fears, especially given the warm chemistry noticed between Haniyeh and Mursi.

Hamas has no illusions about what Mursi's Egypt can do in terms of helping the Palestinians withstand Israeli oppression and repression. Prior to his visit to Egypt, Haniyeh said: "We would like to see a strong and prosperous Egypt, and the last thing we would want to see is wrong and unwise moves that undermine Egyptian national interests."

Translated into political reality, Hamas is expected to be more sensitive to infiltrators, Islamist or otherwise, into Sinai, which could destabilise Egypt's political arena across the border.

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Heart of the matter

The constitutional status of the military has yet to be decided, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Members of the Constituent Assembly have almost completed drafting a new constitution

Monday's Administrative Court decision to delay judgement in cases pending against the Constitutional Assembly to 22 September will allow the assembly to complete its drafting of a new constitution. According to assembly spokesman Wahid Abdel-Meguid, a final draft should be completed within three months.

On 30 July the Systems of Government sub-committee was able to wrap up work on articles detailing the powers of the president. It was agreed that should the presidency become vacant as a result of injury, illness or resignation of the vice president, speaker of the People's Assembly or chairman of the Shura Council would assume the prerogatives of office, in that order.

Whoever assumes the presidency will not be eligible to stand in the presidential elections which must follow within 90 days -- a 30-day extension of the 60-day period stipulated by the 1971 constitution.

The sub-committee also agreed that, in line with the 1971 constitution, the president should head the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) and the National Security Council.

Salah Abdel-Maaboud, a member of the sub-committee and of the Salafist Nour Party, revealed that it was also agreed that the president could only dissolve parliament if the move were approved by public referendum. "If a majority of voters said no then the president would be forced to submit his resignation in respect of the principle of separation of powers," said Abdel-Maaboud.

The president's powers to declare a state of emergency will also be curtailed.

"In the draft we have agreed the president must secure cabinet approval and then submit the motion to the People's Assembly for a vote before a state of emergency can be declared," says Abdel-Maaboud. "Any declaration will then be in force for six months and an extension will have to be put to public referendum."

The National Security sub-committee, meanwhile, has been busy reviewing the powers granted to the military under the 1971 constitution. Abul-Ela Madi, chairman of the moderate Islamist Wasat Party and a member of the National Security sub-committee, says the army will be accorded no political role in the new constitution.

The military budget, Madi revealed, will henceforth be divided into two. The first part, covering civil projects implemented by the army, will be subject to public discussion and review by parliament and the Central Auditing Agency (CAA). The second part, which covers armament procurement and training projects, will be discussed only in closed-door meetings by the People's Assembly National Security Committee and by the National Defence Council.

The sub-committee, says Madi, has agreed that many of the provisions included in the 17 June Constitutional Declaration, issued following the dissolution of the People's Assembly, will remain in place, albeit with minor changes. Any declaration of war by the president currently requires "prior approval" of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). Under the sub-committee's draft the word approval has been replaced by consultation. "Final approval," says Madi, "will be in the hands of the National Defence Council which will be composed of nine civilians and nine military representatives."

Abdel-Meguid argues that the new constitution will not curtail any of the powers and privileges currently enjoyed by the Armed Forces. "It will give SCAF partial -- rather than absolute -- independence from other branches of government," he says.

Whether such reassurances convince the generals remains a moot point. SCAF has insisted repeatedly that provisions in the 1971 constitution pertaining to the military must be retained.

During a 29 July meeting with members of the Judicial Authority sub-committee SCAF legal advisor Mamdouh Shahin proposed that articles in the new constitution dealing with the role of the military judiciary be included in the judicial rather than military chapter. The request was rejected by the sub-committee, which insisted on retaining the 1971 order.

Shahin had argued that "making military justice a part of the judicial authority will guarantee that citizens will face a fair trial." Such a rationale clearly rang alarm bells among sub-committee members.

Military justice, said sub-committee member Noureddin Ali, must be limited to military personnel and kept independent of the civil justice system. Ali also argued that new legislation was required setting the remit of military courts and preventing the appearance of civilians before them.

The Judicial Authority sub-committee finished its hearings on 29 July after discussing the jurisdiction of the two highest judicial authorities in Egypt, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) and the Court of Cassation. The sub-committee also discussed the powers of the prosecutor-general and the State Cases Authority.

Sub-committee rapporteur Taymour Kamel told parliamentary correspondents on 29 June that there was a consensus among members that judicial authorities must have their independence from executive supervision guaranteed.

"The president must not be allowed to appoint judges to the Supreme Constitutional Court or any other judicial authority," said Kamel. "Nor should he be empowered to appoint or fire the prosecutor-general."

The Supreme Judicial Council, headed by chairman of the Court of Cassation, will select the prosecutor-general, though the nominee, says Kamel, "will require the endorsement of the president".

The head of the SCC should be selected by a general assembly of its judges.

According to Kamel, the sub-committee agreed that the SCC will scrutinise new legislation passed by parliament except for laws regulating presidential and parliamentary elections and exercise of political rights which will be revised by the SCC before they are enacted. "This last provision is essential if we are to avoid the dangers inherent in invalidating elections once the results have been announced," said Kamel.

While some sub-committees have forged ahead with their work, "disagreements remain over the first five articles of the constitution which deal with the Islamic Sharia and the role of Al-Azhar", says Abdel-Meguid. "It will also be necessary to hold more hearings over the relationship between the army and other state authorities."

As a consequence the Constituent Assembly's next full meeting, scheduled to be held last Tuesday, has been delayed to 7 August.

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A trail of broken promises

The National Front for the Completion of the Revolution's demands that President Mohamed Mursi keep his pre-election pledges have fallen on deaf ears, reports Mona El-Nahhas Members of the National Front for the Completion of the Revolution during a press conference

The National Front for the Completion of the Revolution blasted the performance of President Mohamed Mursi during a press conference held on Saturday. The front, which had allied itself with Mursi on the basis of promises made when he was still a presidential candidate, singled out the appointment of former irrigation minister Hisham Qandil as prime minister for particular criticism.

The press conference came a day after the front issued a statement blaming Mursi for failing to implement his earlier pledges and criticising the opaqueness of the process surrounding the selection of his first cabinet.

The National Front, which includes leftist and liberal forces among its members, was formed on 22 June, two days before the results of presidential election were announced. Mursi was present at its launch, and signed up to the six articles the coalition put forward in its national partnership document: the annulment of the complementary constitutional declaration; the appointment of a leading national figure as a prime minister to head a meritocratic cabinet with members drawn from across the political spectrum; a team of presidential advisors including women and Copts; the appointment of a crisis-management team to deal with the longstanding problems; a constituent assembly representing a wide range of political positions and greater transparency in all executive decision-making.

The coalition was formed amid growing fears that the delay in announcing the election results was being used as cover to rig the poll in favour of Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafik.

During the press conference leading front member Wael Ghoneim denied that the alliance with Mursi had ended.

"The front's position had not changed. We still believe that partnership is the best way forward. All we need from Mursi is a clear commitment to the six principles cited in the national partnership paper," Ghoneim told reporters.

But the newly elected president, says media expert Hamdi Qandil, has so far shown no inclination to abide by the pledges he made on the day the front was founded.

"From day one there was an agreement that the prime minister should be a leading patriotic figure," says Heba Raouf. "There was never any suggestion that a technocrat would head the new cabinet."

Raouf has called on Mursi to state explicitly the criteria he is following in making ministerial appointments and revealed that following his election Mursi closed channels of communication with the front.

Writer Sekina Fouad warned that by conducting negotiations behind closed doors and excluding the public from the decision-making process the new president is repeating the mistakes of the former regime.

So is the front likely to emerge as a centre of opposition to the new president?

It is a possibility, says writer-activist Wael Qandil, should the president not fulfil his pledges.

Whether or not he loses the support of the front is unlikely to weigh heavy on Mursi's calculations, says political analyst Mustafa El-Sayed.

"It's clear that Mursi will not respond to any of their demands if they are not first approved by the Muslim Brotherhood. Pleasing the Brotherhood is far more important to Mursi than courting a coalition that has little demonstrable grassroots support."

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When darkness prevails

Recurrent power cuts that gripped Egypt this month have crippled production in various sectors, Nesma Nowar reports People expressed their anger at power cuts by blocking roadways in several provinces across Egypt

Maye Abdel-Azim had to hold a meeting with one of her clients in a dark room this week. "Starting mid-July and for two weeks in a row we have been witnessing daily power cuts that extended for up to two hours," said Abdel-Azim, managing director of Media & More, an advertising agency.

Power cuts were disastrous for her work, according to Abdel-Azim. She explained that she failed to deliver her work on time because electricity blackouts crippled production at her office. Consequently, she had to put off delivery deadlines to later dates. "The work produced in these two weeks could have been carried out in three days had it not been for recurrent power cuts," Abdel-Azim told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Abdel-Azim is not the only victim of power cuts. Power outages have taken their toll on the tourism sector as well. Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Federation (ETF) Elhami El-Zayat told the Weekly that he has received several complaints from hotels in the Red Sea resorts of Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada. Recurrent power cuts hamper the use of air conditioning units in hotels.

El-Zayat pointed out that power cuts give tourists a bad impression about the quality of services in Egypt, which in turn could affect tourism negatively.

On Sunday, the Health Ministry warned of a "disaster" in hospitals due to continuing power cuts. Assistant Minister of Health Abdel-Hamid Abaza has been quoted as saying that the ministry asked the Ministry of Electricity to supply hospitals with power through two different sources, in order to protect the lives of patients.

Industries have also been affected by electricity blackouts. Owners of factories in Abu Rawash industrial zone have called upon officials to end the electricity crisis. They said that power cuts are hindering production.

Bakeries are in no better condition. Farag Wahba, head of the bakeries division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said that due to power outages bakeries were not able to run ovens and this led to spoiling of the dough used to make bread. "This in turn caused losses to the owners of bakeries," Wahba said.

Power cuts began in May but have escalated during July prompting a spate of demonstrations across Egypt. Cairo and many other governorates have been experiencing regular power cuts that extended, in some cases, to more than four hours. Citizens in Cairo have threatened not to pay their electricity bills.

In a press conference last week, Minister of Electricity Hassan Younis said there is a 3,000 Megawatt increase in electricity loads at peak times. He added that this is costing the state dearly, at levels that surpass available resources.

Aktham Abul-Ela, deputy minister of electricity and energy, attributed power outages partly to increased electricity consumption as a result of a large increase in the number of air conditioning units in homes and buildings, reaching six million units in 2012. The number of air conditioners in 2006 was as low as 900,000, according to Abul-Ela.

Abul-Ela added that the lack of security has resulted many illegal buildings that added to electricity consumption. "Electricity consumption has climbed by 12 per cent this year, whereas economic growth stood at two per cent." Abul-Ela told the Weekly.

He further said that households comprise 42 per cent of total electricity consumption, while industry consumes 32 per cent. "This does not happen in any country around the world." He added that air conditioners eat up a quarter of Egypt's generated electricity. He also noted that in Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting, electricity consumption normally peaks.

Compounding the problem, Abul-Ela stated that 1,800 megawatts were supposed to be added to the national grid through linking the grid with two power plants in West Damietta and Abu Qir. However local protests at both sites prevented the early completion of those plants. "If these 1,800 megawatts had been added to the grid, we would not have had these power cuts." He said.

Another reason that led to the power cuts, according to Abul-Ela, is a shortage in fuel and natural gas needed to run power plants. He said that his ministry has asked the finance ministry to allocate funds for the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) to provide power plants with the needed petroleum products.

Indeed, mismanagement on the Petroleum Ministry's side has contributed to the power cuts problem, according to Hossam Arafat, head of the general division of petroleum products at the Federation of Chambers of Commerce. Arafat said that the Ministry of Petroleum has been late in importing fuel oil used in operating power plants.

Arafat also believes that the government lacks the liquidity needed to import required petroleum products. According to Arafat, Egypt needs $35 million daily to meet its petroleum needs. He also pointed out that there is no coordination between the ministries of electricity and petroleum.

Meanwhile, Arafat attributed a good part of the problem to the fact that many old cables in the national grid need replacement. "This makes it a rickety grid that can not bear any overload."

Abul-Ela stated that power outages have begun to ease. He attributed this to a decrease in temperatures and consistent supply of natural gas and fuel to power plants.

In order to meet soaring energy consumption in coming years, several projects are underway. Abul-Ela stated that the energy sector would implement energy projects worth LE12 billion during a five-year plan, 2012-2017, which are expected to add an extra 14,500 megawatts to Egypt's national grid.

Also, an agreement will be signed with Saudi Arabia to exchange electricity current with them, as peak hours for electricity usage in Saudi Arabia are in the morning while peak hours in Egypt are in the evening.

But when it comes to immediate and effective solutions to current power cuts, Abul-Ela underlined the importance of rationalising energy consumption. "Rationalising consumption should be part of Egyptians' culture."

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Officer reshuffle

Changes in the police ranks have been made following alleged interference by the Muslim Brotherhood in the process, reports Mohamed Abdel-Baky

Following a month of reportedly heated debate with the Muslim Brotherhood, Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has approved a widespread reshuffle of the ministry, extending to promotions, transfers and dismissals of police generals and officers.

In a press conference held on Monday, Major General Magdi Ghanem, the assistant to the minister of interior, said 3,800 police officers had been transferred, with an additional 284 officers promoted to the rank of general.

According to Ghanem, 529 major generals and 1,715 brigadier generals were granted one year extensions, and 454 major generals retired. In addition 383 police colonels were promoted to the rank of major general.

Ghanem added that six ministerial aides were appointed, as well as six security directors for the Al-Wadi Al-Gadid, Fayoum, Aswan, Marsa Matrouh, Sharqiya and Damietta governorates. The reshuffle will take effect in the first week of August.

The number of police officers being reshuffled is only 10 per cent of the total number of officers in the ministry.

Major General Khaled Ghoraba, Alexandria Security director, is one of the few high-ranking officers who was not part of the reshuffle despite calls by political forces to appoint a new security chief for the coastal governorate.

Ghoraba was in charge of security in Alexandria when clashes between police and protesters erupted in November 2011, leaving two dead and some 760 injured.

At the time hundreds of protesters tried to break into the security directorate building in Alexandria. Police used force to disperse the protesters.

"The Ministry of Interior has an excellent system that evaluates the performance of its officers. We do not just transfer officers like Major General Ghoraba because some people oppose him without reason," Ghanem said.

The reshuffle was supposed to be announced one month ago, but media reports claimed that the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Mursi interfered in the process.

On Friday, Mursi asked Ibrahim to send him the details of the changes for review, a move that sparked anger among many police officers who considered it interference in the ministry's internal affairs.

"President Mursi reviewed the reshuffle and did not have any reservations," Ibrahim said, denying reports that the delay in the promotions was pending approval of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

He added that the ministry had to take into account human, social and health considerations of the officers and their families "in order to ensure their comfort and good performance when they are transferred to other locations." Ibrahim also said that this year's reshuffle was one of the biggest in the ministry's history.

Last week a local daily reported that the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Bureau had asked its local offices in all governorates to submit evaluations about the performance of high-ranking officers who head the security directorate in each governorate.

The paper added that these reports were reviewed by a committee within the Muslim Brotherhood headed by former MP Abbas Mekhaimer, who headed the dissolved parliament Committee of Defence and National Security.

"It took months to prepare this annual reshuffle. It is a long bureaucratic process developed over the last four decades to improve the performance of the police officers," a major general told Al-Ahram Weekly.

He added it was not easy for parties to understand the process or interfere in the evaluation process of low and high-ranking officers.

Nasser Amin, a political expert, said he believes that the Muslim Brotherhood did not interfere in the recent reshuffle.

"It is clear that nobody interfered in the process because the reshuffle did not include radical changes or the removal of police officers who were involved in crimes during and after the 25 January Revolution," Amin said.

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