Finance Minister Youssef Boutros-Ghali and Parliamentary Planning and Budget Secretary Ahmed Ezz have both recently been blacklisted by the Egyptian Commerce Syndicate for allegedly violating syndicate bylaws.
According to syndicate sources, Ezz–an engineer by profession, not a finance expert–lacks the qualifications necessary to head up parliament’s planning and budget committee. These sources say that syndicate officials planned to send a formal request to Speaker of the House Fathi Sorour asking him to replace Ezz with someone better qualified for the position.
The same sources also criticized Boutros-Ghali for repeatedly ignoring syndicate petitions, even though the minister is officially in charge of syndicate administration. They further point out that Boutros-Ghali has not paid syndicate membership dues since 1974.
According to syndicate bylaws, graduates of commerce and economics are barred from holding public office without being syndicate members.
The sources went on to say that syndicate officials were currently drawing up a list of public figures that had failed to pay their membership fees.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
