Three Islamist And Liberal Parties Call For Egypt’s PM Dismissal

Two of Islamist political parties in Egypt, the Reform and Development Party and Al-Wasat party, have called for the dismissal of Egypt’s Prime Minister, citing poor government manageability following the deadly Badrashin train accident.

Egypt’s health ministry reported that 19 conscripts from the country’s Central Security Forces were killed and at least 120 others injured after their train carriage derailed on Monday night in the town of Badrashin while en route from Upper Egypt to the capital, Cairo.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Reform and Development Party said that sacking the transport minister alone was not enough a punishment.

Essam Sultan, vice president of the Wasat party said the PM’s “politeness” in addressing the train crash does not qualify him to lead a country of 90 million people where services have collapsed many times before.

On his Facebook page, Sultan wrote: “Even though ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime has left a deteriorated railway system, the current government is not taking the appropriate actions.”

He said the Egyptian government should take “bold actions” to improve similar problems in the country.

‘Dismiss the Cabinet’

Both the Reform and Development and Al-Wasat parties previously called on the dismissal of the Egyptian cabinet for their “inefficient” role in solving political and economic problems negatively affecting the lives of Egyptians.

Similarly, the liberal Egyptian Social Democratic Party also released a statement on Tuesday offering their condolences to the families of the victims, saying they suffer from a government that “refuses to prioritise its goals, especially in subjects that involve transportation.”

“It’s ironic that the Badrashin accident took place on the same day the general prosecutor referred two defendants in last November’s Assiut bus-train crash to a criminal court,” the statement said.

The statement added that the prosecutor general’s move demonstrates poor prioritisation within the current government that promises to boost the nation’s productivity over acknowledging the value of an Egyptian life.

The statement listed four other similar train accidents that took place over the past six months since Mohamed Morsi took power in June 2012.

The party also expressed hope that the government would put the demands of the revolution – bread, freedom, social justice and human dignity – as a foremost priority, warning that the patience of the Egyptian people was wearing thin.

Ahram