Cairo: The Egyptian parliament on Tuesday approved the nomination of Mohammad Ali Al Shaikh, a former army general, to be the country’s new minister of supply, the official Middle East News Agency (Mena) reported.
Speaker of Parliament Ali Abdul Aal told the legislature that the nomination was made by President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.
“The Ministry of Supply is a service-orientated ministry that needs a personality having firmness and experience at the same time,” Abdul Aal added, according to the agency. “Maj-Gen Al Shaikh enjoys a wide experience in management, organisation and crisis management.”
The parliament overwhelmingly endorsed the nominee, according to Mena.
Under Egyptian constitution approved in 2014, new government ministers must be endorsed by parliament before they take office.
The Ministry of Supply in Egypt is responsible for providing the local market with subsidised food items, including bread that is a staple for the majority of the country’s 91 million population.
Al Shaikh, 64, is replacing Khalid Hanafi, who resigned last month due to alleged wheat corruption, which is currently under investigation.
The new minister’s previous post was the chief of the army’s public service.
He also served as the head of the army’s logistics agency during the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time president Hosni Mubarak, local media said.
At the time, Al Shaikh handled several crises resulting from a wave of labour stoppages, including a strike by public bus drivers.
Last month, Egypt, the world’s top wheat importer, was rocked by an alleged multi-million-dollar fraud in the supplies of the grain purchased at state-subsidised prices. A parliamentary fact-finding committee estimated the corruption at around 560 million Egyptian pounds (Dh233.3 million).
Egypt’s chief prosecutor has ordered a probe into the alleged fraud.
