Egypt: Reform to continue

Before a joint session of the People's Assembly and Shura Council to mark the opening of parliament President Hosni Mubarak vowed in a keynote speech that neither the current global financial crisis nor local economic conditions would stand in the way of reform. "We have travelled a long way on the road of political and socio-economic reform but must still introduce a further package of serious reforms to complete the modernisation of our legislative and constitutional structure," Mubarak said.

He told parliamentarians that a new list of draft reform laws were ready to be discussed in the new session, including legislative amendments aimed at increasing the number of women serving in parliament. Only nine seats in the 454-seat People's Assembly are currently held by women, four of them elected and five appointed by the president. The 264-seat Shura Council has 21 women members, 20 presidential appointees and a single elected member.

Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab told Al-Ahram Weekly that three amendments will be introduced to help increase the number of women parliamentarians.

"We will have to amend the 1956 law on the exercise of political rights, the 1972 law regulating the People's Assembly and the 1980 law governing the Shura Council."

"A ministerial legislative group," Shehab continued, "is currently discussing the necessary amendments, probing the possibility of creating up to 56 new electoral districts."

President Mubarak's announcement that the number of female lawmakers is to be increased provoked mixed reactions.

Leading Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama pointed out that increasing women's representation hardly tops the political reform agenda. "Other priorities," he said, "include amending the parties law in order to enhance competition in political life and revoking the emergency law to curtail the intimidation of independent and opposition political activists."

Under the current electoral laws, says Salama, there is little doubt that most, if not all, new female lawmakers will belong to the NDP.

Shehab also informed the Weekly that amendments to the electoral law are being appraised. "There are a lot of opinions, some in favour and some against changing the current individual candidacy system," said Shehab, adding that "the NDP prefers that this critical issue become a matter of dialogue with all political forces ahead of parliamentary elections in 2010."

President Mubarak went on to tell both houses of parliament to expect changes to the 1993 law regulating elections to professional syndicates. "The amendment," says Shehab, "will provide greater facilities for voting and guarantee that the boards of syndicates are elected in a democratic way."

The current law, drafted by the NDP in 1993, was conceived to prevent the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood from infiltrating civil society organisations, especially professional syndicates. Brotherhood members, however, have been able to control the boards of the Lawyers' and Doctors' Syndicates while the Engineers' Syndicate, bogged down in legal disputes, has long been placed under judicial sequestration.

President Mubarak revealed that he has given instructions that parliament should draft new regulations covering nuclear activities "as part of the strategic decision taken last year to launch an ambitious nuclear programme". Mubarak devoted a large part of his speech to reviewing the impact of the global financial crisis on Egypt. "The first quarter of the current fiscal year registered a growth rate of 5.8 per cent, compared to a high 6.5 per cent during the first quarter of last year," Mubarak said. He urged the government to act to ensure that the burdens of the crisis do not fall on the shoulders of the poor.

"I have asked the government to increase investment spending and to increase the budget deficit slightly, a shortfall that we will recover from in the coming year without placing additional burdens on citizens."

As part of a new financial package regulating the stock market, insurance and real estate markets is to be tightened. "The measures will unify regulators in a single authority in order to better confront crises and attract local and international investments," Mubarak said.

He vowed that the global credit crunch would not deflect the government from pursuing economic reform, saying "the need to provide the private sector with greater incentives in the two areas of investment and exports is more pressing than ever". He did not, however, make any reference to the controversial scheme to distribute shares in government-owned companies to the public free of charged. The programme was officially announced by Gamal Mubarak, the chairman of the NDP's powerful Policies Committee, and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieldin, on 10 November.

Gamal Mubarak, in a meeting with leading NDP members of the board of the General Federation of Egyptian Trade Unions (GFETU) on Monday, argued that "privatisation is not an end in itself but a means of raising the efficiency of public sector companies." He also indicated that a wide-ranging dialogue between the NDP and leaders of civil society organisations is likely ahead of the programme being implemented, and expressed his willingness "to meet with leaders of workers in Cairo and other governorates to address their concerns about the scheme".

In a bid to contain criticism Gamal Mubarak revealed that draft legislation will veto the sale of government stakes in strategic companies, including pharmaceuticals, iron and steel and textiles, and in public assets such as the Suez Canal. He also refuted allegations that the new programme ultimately aimed to cut subsidies and eliminate free public services.

President Mubarak emphasised that moving ahead with the liberal economic reform programme will not come at the expense of social justice and revealed that amendments are in the pipeline to laws governing personal status healthcare, including mental health, insurance and pensions. A new law covering organ transplants will also be presented to parliament.

Mubarak expressed pleasure that parliament has begun discussing a new bill designed to create civil, non-profit universities. "These aim to provide high-quality education to graduates of secondary schools who do not have a place in state universities," he said. The bill was approved by the Shura Council on Monday and is expected to be presented to the People's Assembly next week.

Mubarak concluded with hopes that the new parliamentary round will also witness the passing of another package of laws protecting antiquities and the environment, establishing a new agency for food safety, stamping out illiteracy, ensuring the safety of vessels and the rights of the handicapped.

"A lot of bills will be on the agenda and I hope your debates will be constructive and in the interests of the people," he said.

By Gamal Essam El-Din, Al Ahram Weekly