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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Living Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters 'Historic' session draws mixed assessments
By Gamal Essam El-DinThe People's Assembly adjourned for the summer, with its General Committee holding a conclusive meeting on Saturday to report a long list of achievements. Speaker Fathi Sorour described the recently-ended session as one of the best in parliamentary history. "This session was characterised by great enthusiasm on the part of deputies -- be they majority, opposition or independent -- to actively participate in its proceedings," Sorour said. He also praised the legislative and supervisory roles the assembly played in the seven-month session.
In legislative terms, Sorour reported that the assembly had passed 159 laws. Thirty-one of these covered socio-economic issues and 128 dealt with financial and budgetary matters. Sorour also boasted that deputies were keen on proposing bills, with the number proposed this session reaching an unprecedented 45. Out of these, however, only three bills were approved. "During the parliamentary debates of these bills, the assembly took the utmost care to ensure that they conform to the rules of Islamic Shari'a [law] and provisions of the constitution," Sorour said.
Sorour said that the assembly's greatest legislative achievement was the passing of the landmark 772-article law of commerce. "This law, which provides a comprehensive revision of the nation's commercial regulations that had been in effect since 1883, was debated at length in 22 parliamentary sittings," he said.
In terms of parliament's supervisory role, Sorour asserted that the assembly was highly effective in monitoring the government's performance. "This was achieved by giving deputies the right to submit as many as 236 questions and 233 requests for information, as well as making 91 urgent statements. In addition, deputies directed 10 parliamentary interpellations to cabinet ministers, compared to three in the previous session," Sorour said. He said that the government was highly responsive to the deputies' demands and questions. "Cabinet ministers were intent on being present and available during the debates to immediately respond to the deputies' questions. They provided immediate answers to 84 urgent statements out of 91 made by deputies," said Sorour. He added that Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri was keen on attending debates to explain the government's position.
As expected, however, some deputies and experts disagreed with Sorour's analysis. Interviewed by Al-Ahram Weekly, a number of deputies of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) said the assembly's performance in this last session was lacking in several aspects. Ibrahim El-Nimiki, deputy chairman of the assembly's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said that the assembly's committees had failed to closely monitor the government's performance. "This was largely due to the last cabinet reshuffle, which put Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri on top of various portfolios, especially the Local Administration Ministry and the Youth Council. Consequently, most of the debates held by the Local Administration and Youth Committees came to nothing because it was impossible for El-Ganzouri to attend them personally. The chairmen of these two important committees complained about this many times, but the government turned a deaf ear," said El-Nimiki.
Joining forces with El-Nimiki, Mohamed Gweili, chairman of the assembly's Proposals and Complaints Committee, said the assembly was active in debating bills but, in supervisory terms, the government did not show adequate interest in cooperating with the committee. "We usually receive many complaints in which citizens claim that government agencies refuse to comply with court rulings that are in their favour. Many cabinet ministers were not sufficiently enthusiastic about cooperating with the committee in responding to citizens' complaints. It is a shame that the ministers responded to only about 10 per cent of these complaints," said Gweili.
Sawsan Kilani, NDP deputy for Ismailia, said the assembly completely ignored the reports submitted by the Central Auditing Agency (CAA) on the financial and administrative performance of state agencies and companies. "It is true that privatisation policies had a very negative impact on the role of the CAA, but this is not a sufficient excuse for the assembly to ignore the reports of this highly important supervisory agency. I think that most supervisory agencies in the country are now facing hard times," said Kilani.
Sorour, addressing the General Committee, said that the majority of CAA reports are not very significant. "Most of them focus on insignificant deviations by state agencies and companies. So it is not recommended to debate these reports in a plenary session. They can be debated, however, by the parliamentary committees," he said.
According to El-Nimiki, cooperation between the assembly and the government was not exemplary. As an example, he cited the confrontation that flared up between El-Ganzouri and NDP deputies at the beginning of the session. "Yes, the government later managed to show greater cooperation with deputies, but the seeds of discontent are still there. In the coming session, I think that a new mode of cooperation should be developed. The government should refrain from being snobbish with deputies and deputies should know that there is a limit to their demands," El-Nimiki said.
