Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf (, ; born 1952) is an Egyptian academic who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 3 March 2011 to 7 December 2011. He served as Minister of Transportation from 2004 to 2005.
Early life and education
Sharaf was born in Giza in 1952. After receiving his BSc in civil engineering from Cairo University in 1975, he went to Purdue University where he continued his studies, receiving his MSc Eng in 1980 and his PhD in 1984.
Career
Sharaf took a post as a visiting assistant professor at Purdue in 1984 before becoming assistant professor of highway and traffic engineering at Cairo University the following year. In 1990, he was an assistant professor of civil engineering at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia. He returned to Cairo University in 1991, becoming a professor of highway engineering in 1996 while working as senior advisor for the transportation and aviation department in Zuhair Fayez Partnership (ZFP) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sharaf was the senior advisor to the Egyptian minister of transport in 1999 and the senior technical advisor to the municipality of Al Ain in the UAE in 2003.
He joined the National Democratic Party and became a member of its policy secretariat. He served as Egyptian minister of transportation from 13 July 2004 to 31 December 2005. He resigned due to differences that cropped up between him and Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif. Nazif decided to put the Egypt Engineers Association under state control, a move that meant confiscation of union funds and property by the government. Sharaf later claimed that these events led to the Qalyoub rail accident in 2006.
Following his resignation, Sharaf returned to academia, accepting a post at Cairo University, where he remained a vocal critic of the Mubarak regime, particularly with respect to its handling of Egypt's public transportation infrastructure. During this time he also served as an advisor to Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority, and established the Egypt Scientific Society together with Mohamed ElBaradei, Ahmed Zewail and other Egyptian scientists.
2011 events
Sharaf was present and active at the Tahrir square protests during the 2011 Revolution, which endeared him to the leaders of the democracy movement and led them to suggest his name to the Military Council as a possible replacement for Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik.
He was asked by Egypt's governing military council to form a government on 3 March 2011, following Shafik's resignation. On 4 March, he addressed crowds of pro-democracy activists at Tahrir Square shortly after Friday prayers, an unusual move for an Egyptian politician. Sharaf appeared on stage with Mohamed Beltagy, a Muslim Brotherhood leader. In his speech he said "I draw my legitimacy from you" and reiterated his commitment to democratic transition, but pleaded for patience. It is noted that he is the first Egyptian prime minister to give a monthly State-of-the-Union address (since Aziz Sedki 1972-1973).
Premiership
Sharaf was appointed prime minister on 3 March 2011, being the first post-revolution premier of Egypt and replaced Ahmad Shafiq in the post. Although Sharaf was suggested for the premiership by the crowds in Tahrir square, by the end of his term it was largely viewed as anti-revolutionary. During the first couple of months, he removed some very unpopular members of his cabinet, including Foreign Minister Ahmed AbulGheit, dissolved the unpopular and corrupt local and municipal councils, and enacted a series of decisions and policies that were met with fanfare. Even on the personal level, he was a media and street darling. He was even pictured with Egyptians eating the cheap Egyptian national dish "Fuul" (fava beans) in a simple restaurant with his family, his son paid a traffic ticket rather than evading it as he could have, and other similar stories of a simple and humble demeanor flooded the social networks and street talk. He was later blamed for failure to properly address a number of incidents that are crucial to national security such as the worsening security issues, reforming the security apparatus, sectarian violence, solving workers' pay grievances or reforming corrupt national media. His government had mandated a number of laws that were controversial, such as Anti-assembly and Anti-strike laws.
