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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 15 - 21 June 2000 Issue No. 486
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Defending parliament's good name
By Gamal Essam El-DinThe People's Assembly's fifth session ended on Sunday, with new parliamentary elections scheduled for November.
Compared to the previous four years, this fifth session was the most dramatic. A significant number of deputies, especially members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), currently face charges ranging from financial irregularities to forgery.
Also, the assembly has recently been dealt another serious blow, most political observers agree. The recent decision by the Supreme Constitutional Court condemning last year's NGO law as unconstitutional has been cited as yet another proof of the charge that the People's Assembly merely serves to rubber-stamp government-sponsored bills.
Addressing the assembly on its five-year harvest, Speaker Fathi Sorour went to great pains to refute the accusation that the assembly was primarily to blame for the unconstitutionality of the NGO law. The Supreme Court's ruling should not be used to condemn the assembly, he argued; rather, it should be regarded as a triumph for the court, which is solely empowered to deliver the exact interpretations of the constitution. "It is regrettable that some usually rush to criticise the assembly and take it to task whenever some specific legal articles are ruled unconstitutional. Let me remind those critics that truth remains the goal of truth-seekers, and yet the court has the authority to deliver the final verdict," Sorour said.
Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, indirectly blamed former Prime Minister Kamal El-Ganzouri and his cabinet affairs minister, Talaat Hammad, for the unconstitutionality of the NGO law. "Let me put it on record here that Justice Minister Farouk Seif El-Nasr and myself recommended at a cabinet meeting that the NGO law be approved first by the Shura Council because it is complementary to the constitution. This recommendation was rejected for a certain reason which I do not want to reveal now. As a cabinet minister, however, I was obliged to abide by this decision," said El-Shazli. Some NDP deputies, such as Abdel-Rahman Baraka and Ahmed Shiha, however, lashed out at El-Ganzouri and Hammad, taking them openly to task for the blunder.
From a different perspective, the court's ruling highlighted the Shura Council's role in domestic politics. Shawqi El-Sayed, an appointed Shura Council member and prominent lawyer, told Al-Ahram Weekly that decision-makers should refrain from looking upon the Shura Council as "a democratic ornament." He said the council should "either be given legislative powers or, at least, should be respected in terms of discussing laws forming an integral part of the constitution." Official Supreme Constitutional Court statistics reveal that certain articles in as many as 112 laws were branded unconstitutional over the last 20 years.
There was more behind the barrage of criticism directed at the assembly than the NGO law mess-up, however. The assembly was also accused of shelving discussion of important legislation on the housing problem. Sorour and El-Shazli had both agreed that time was insufficient for the assembly to discuss two government-proposed housing bills. The first bill aims to set up "unions of residents" at all residential buildings in order to stem increasing construction offences. The second, the Housing Mortgage Law, aims to encourage banks to extend home purchase loans, particularly to those with limited incomes. Moreover, critics are irked that the assembly has failed, for the fifth time, to discuss a long-awaited bill aimed at liberalising rents of old residential buildings. Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, chairman of the Assembly's Housing Committee, told the Weekly that the shelving of debate of the three bills was regrettable, since they were meant to be steps toward a key solution for the housing problem. "But we were aware that a quick discussion of such sensitive bills would be impossible. Numerous modifications were proposed by MPs and many articles touched on constitutional matters. This requires a long time for discussion," Hassan said.
The assembly was also accused of ignoring an important interpellation (a question that must be answered by a certain cabinet minister) submitted by Wafdist MP Ayman Nour. Nour's interpellation held Economy Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali and his policies responsible for a liquidity squeeze and some banking irregularities.
Opposition deputies wondered how the assembly, while protesting shortage of time, found the space to ram through five government-sponsored bills. Dealing with taxes, investment incentives, customs and electoral constituencies, the bills were discussed and approved in two days. Both opposition MPs and NDP deputies protested that these intricate bills should have been given more time for adequate debate. Sorour agreed that "it is really unreasonable to discuss these laws in such a short period of time." He said one of the five bills, the Customs Law, was "a mess" and needed plenty of modifications to avoid a future ruling of unconstitutionality.
In terms of achievements, Sorour said the assembly passed 162 laws this parliamentary year, compared to 159 during last year's session. Of these, 129 dealt with financial and budgetary matters and 33 covered socio-economic and political issues. In supervisory terms, the deputies submitted 170 questions and 315 requests for information to government ministers, compared to 236 and 233 respectively in the 1998-99 session.
In its five-year history, the assembly has approved 889 laws. Of these, 732 dealt with financial and budgetary matters, while 157 were socio-economical and political in nature. Sorour said that of the laws submitted to the 1995-2000 parliament, 55 were designed to speed up the transition to a market economy and the integration of Egypt into the world economy.
In supervisory terms, MPs directed 30 interpellations, 887 questions and 955 information requests to cabinet ministers during the five-year term.
