22 - 28 November 2001
Issue No.561
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 22 - 28 November 2001 Issue No.561 |
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Lakah takes a bow
Parliament overwhelmingly accepted a court ruling that bans its members from holding a dual nationalilty, as Gamal Essam El-Din reports
The People's Assembly has finally put an end to the year-long controversy over the validity of the membership of independent MP and businessman Rami Lakah. With a majority of 367 votes, and acting in accordance with a 27 August ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court, the assembly decided on Sunday to cancel Lakah's membership in parliament on the grounds that he is a dual national. Lakah, a 38- year-old Roman Catholic, holds an Egyptian and a French passport. Three deputies voted against taking away Lakah's membership and seven abstained.
Lakah, representing Cairo's downtown district of Ezbekiya, did not attend the assembly's session. He is rumoured to be in London.
According to a report prepared by parliament's Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, the decision to drop Lakah's membership was not only due to the fact that he is a dual national, but also because it was proved that he had dodged military service.
The committee's chairman, Mohamed Moussa, said the 27 August ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court rendered void the interior minister's decision to declare Lakah victorious in the 2000 elections. "The interior minister's decision was taken in spite of the fact that at the time Lakah held two nationalities and carried an Egyptian and a French passport," said Moussa.
Lakah is not the only parliamentarian to suffer the consequences of the court's ruling. In a move that has taken observers by surprise, the assembly also decided to drop the parliamentary membership of Misbah Mutawie (known as Talaat Mutawie). A businessman and a member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) for Daqahliya governorate's Bilqas constituency, Mutawie was stripped of his parliamentary membership because he held dual nationality (Egyptian-American) at the time he registered to run in the elections.
Permitted by the assembly's speaker to defend himself, Mutawie said he was surprised by the sudden decision of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee to invoke the court's ruling on Lakah against him. "The chairman of the committee, of which I'm a member, had said in recent press interviews that the ruling against Lakah was applicable to him alone. Suddenly, he changed his position and I was surprised to see that the committee decided to slit my throat at last Thursday's meeting," Mutawie said. "I renounced my American nationality once I knew of the ruling against Lakah. I showed the committee a certificate issued by the American Embassy in Cairo, proving that I had given up my American nationality. But the committee's chairman refused to acknowledge this certificate," Mutawie said.
He argued that it is unfair to bar citizens who have dual nationality from running in elections. "There are hundreds of Egyptians who hold dual nationality, many of whom are successful businessmen living abroad," Mutawie said. Explaining that he went to the United States 14 years ago to make a living, he said, "I began washing dishes, but I ended up as a successful businessman, owning a large supermarket chain and a pharmacy in New Jersey. I have always been a patriotic Egyptian," Mutawie said.
He claimed that there are cabinet ministers who hold dual nationality but they have been spared his fate. "What about Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali who is said to have Egyptian and American nationalities?" Mutawie said. In response, Kamal El-Shazli, minister of state for parliamentary affairs, said that no cabinet minister has been proven to be a dual national.
Several MPs expressed sympathy for Mutawie's fate. "We would not want to be in Mutawie's position, but we decided to strictly adhere to the principle of complying with final court rulings," said the NDP's majority leader Hussein Megawer. "The Supreme Administrative Court stated that deputies who were found to have been dual nationals when elections were held should lose their membership in parliament because the right to stand for elections is reserved for people who are 100 per cent Egyptian. This applies to Lakah and Mutawie."
Committee chairman Moussa indicated that Mutawie will be allowed to run in the Bilqas by-election. "As long as Mutawie has renounced his American nationality, he may run in the by-election. Lakah does not have this right because he still holds his French nationality, not to mention the fact that he failed to fulfil his obligation for military service," Moussa told parliamentary correspondents.
The assembly refrained from taking a decision on a third MP who is widely rumoured to hold German nationality. The MP in question is Mohamed Ahmed Saleh, a businessman and an independent representative for Daqahliya governorate's Talkha district. Saleh told Al-Ahram Weekly that he will be spared Lakah's predicament because he had given up his German passport. "I gave up my German citizenship even before I started to make preparations for contesting the 2000 elections. I was 100 per cent Egyptian when I registered for the elections," Saleh said.
Lakah and Mutawie are the first deputies to have their membership cancelled by the current assembly.
Another businessman who is expected to lose his membership is Fawzi El-Sayed, a construction magnate and MP for eastern Cairo's Nasr City constituency. El-Sayed, an NDP member, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity in June so that prosecution authorities could interrogate him on charges of forging official documents to obtain building permits. El-Sayed is currently standing trial before a Cairo Criminal Court. The court is expected to hand down a final ruling in his case on 15 January.
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