Osama Heikal has resigned as Minister of State for Information, citing “personal reasons” in a letter handed over to Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly. Heikal was censured by MPs in February over the ministry’s slow progress on major projects, public comments he made that MPs said were “exploited by foreign media,” and the misuse of public funds since the ministry was reconstituted in 2019. Heikal’s is the first resignation of a cabinet member from the current line-up of ministers since former Transport Minister Hisham Arafat stepped down in the aftermath of the Ramses train disaster in 2019.

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