Page 4 - Issue-En-44

ELITE
Vol.1

Issue 44

June 2022 important issues and send our messages to
professors in a comical yet constructive,
respectful way.

Question: How was your relationship with
the professors, and who impacted your life
the most?
It was excellent! Zaki Shafei, the dean, put
a lot of effort into choosing professors
from different backgrounds and intellectual
and social orientations. Dr. Khairy Eissa,
for example, came from a well-off family
and would invite us to dinner at Elsaid
sporting club. The dean did a great job
setting the tone in the Faculty whenever
students or professors would show signs of
deviation. For example, a few Jordanian
students of Palestinian origin tried Ethiopia for six weeks, and I gained a lot
organizing a clandestine political cell from that experience. My life before and
within the Faculty, but the dean quickly after that trip was different, as I had honed
stepped in and wisely dealt with that my skills.

situation. During that time, one of the
professors made a statement that could Question: Your tenure at the ministry of
have led to the faculty closing down; he finance is considered an important
spoke about the five-year development milestone in your biography, given the
plan under Abdel Nasser’s presidency and exceptional circumstances at the time after
about Ahmed Abbud Pasha, one of the president Mubarak stepped down and
most prominent businessmen during the during Dr. Essam Sharaf’s government.
monarchy whose assets were nationalized. Tell us about that period’s circumstances
The professor had stated that Aboud Pasha and the challenges that you faced.
was better than ten five-year plans. These Indeed, that was a very challenging time. I
statements eventually reached the was the managing director of the
Presidency of the Republic, and the matter Economic Research Forum in the Middle
was embarrassing and put him in trouble as East, Iran, and Turkey after returning to
Nasser had decided to establish the Faculty Egypt from the International Labor
because he wanted an Egyptian view on Organization in Geneva. I had no plans of

economics and politics. Therefore, the pursuing any official position in the
professor’s statement was dangerous at the government. With the January 25
time, especially since Nasser’s five-year revolution, I was at home when I got the
plan is now considered by nationals and call from the presidency, which I couldn’t
foreigners to be one of the most successful quite register at the time, and they had
3 five-year plans to date. I was lucky to be asked me to become the minister of
on good terms with the dean. I had traveled finance. I was the last to take the oath of
with him representing Cairo University, to office, given the circumstances of the
study economics at the hands of streets. The prime minister was senior
international experts. We traveled to commander Ahmed Shafik, the first prime