Egypt’s government has sacked at least eight senior officials in the country’s state-run electricity companies, according to a statement from a spokesperson for the Ministry of Electricity.

The Electricity Ministry announced on 25 August that the eight officials had been sacked, as the country continues to grapple with blackouts from electricity shortages.

According to the local press, all of the eight electricity officials had links to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“These decisions come within the framework of developing the performance in all affiliated firms,” Mohammad al-Yamani, ministry spokesman was quoted in the local press on 25 August. “Any leadership against which a security warning is issued will be excluded immediately.”

Egypt’s new president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, the former military general, has pledged to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood as part of efforts to regain stability following the overthrow of Presidents Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

Egypt is facing a race against time to boost generation capacity, with a supply shortfall of about 3,000MW in mid-2013 that led to prolonged power cuts. In his inauguration speech in early June, Al-Sisi said developing nuclear power to assist in efforts to meet the shortfalls would form a key government priority.

The government is planning to develop an initial 1,600MW nuclear power facility at El-Dabaa, 160 kilometres west of Alexandria, which will reportedly be followed by a second 900MW unit at the same site.