Parliament Performance Report for the period from 4 to 30 October 2016 - Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights

Set reading font size

A report on the performance of Parliament for the period from 4 to 30 October 2016

15 November, 2016

Report on the performance of Parliament for the period between 4 To 30 October 2016

The Egyptian parliament begins the second session of the legislative term at the beginning of October and at its first session took the final opinion on the draft civil service law, while the council discussed the report of the joint committee of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee, and the offices of the Foreign Relations and Plan and Budget Committees on a draft law submitted by the government to issue The Law on Combating Illegal Immigration, which was issued later, in addition to referring a number of international agreements, which the government has documented, to the Legislative Committee for discussion, and to ensure their compliance with the constitution.

The House of Representatives also celebrated the 150th anniversary of its establishment on the ninth of last October in the city of peace, Sharm el-Sheikh, in the presence of President El-Sisi and Prime Minister, Eng. Sherif Ismail, and a number of heads of parliaments of the countries of the world, and there was a great controversy surrounding the celebration, especially regarding the size Spending on it, as some considered it exaggerated, and that it contradicts the austerity trends demanded by the state, while others saw it as necessary and has many benefits.

In various contexts, the parliament completed internal elections for all committees, and it is striking that women are not represented in the parliament’s specific committees in a number proportional to their total number under the parliament. Where MP Sahar Talaat chaired the Tourism Committee only, and the total number of women in the committees' office bodies was only 8, with a percentage of less than 9% of the total number of women representatives in Parliament, despite the fact that the percentage of women in Parliament exceeded 15% from the total number of deputies

This is the ninth report as part of a follow-up Maat for Peace, Development and Human Association Parliamentary performance by monitoring and analysis within the framework of the institution’s keenness to build a real legislative institution that can work to realize the dreams of the Egyptian people. The report covers the period from 4 to 13 October 2016.

This report is based on an aggregate of what has been published on news websites specialized in parliamentary affairs, as well as the statements and meetings of the MPs, television and press, and their personal pages on social networking sites, as well as what is broadcast on the Egyptian Voice of the People channel.

The report focused on monitoring the legislations approved or discussed by parliament during the period it covers, and the report also monitors the oversight role of parliament on the performance of the state’s executive bodies and the relationship between parliamentarians and executive bodies. The report also displays foreign visits to the parliament and also the parliament’s reception of diplomats from other countries at the official level.

First: The legislative performance of Parliament:

Legislations issued by the parliament or discussed seriously this month or submitted by the representatives, the most important of which were:

The House of Representatives finally issued the law on illegal immigration, submitted by the government, after failing to vote on it in advance, due to the lack of a quorum. Where 402 deputies approved the law, after obtaining the required majority, which is two-thirds of parliament, while 5 members rejected the law and 2 abstained.
The House of Representatives finally issued the civil service law submitted by the government, as 401 deputies approved the law, after the required majority of two-thirds of the parliament was met, while the law rejected 26 members, and 6 abstained from voting.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives referred a draft law submitted by Representative Bahaa El Din Abu Shuqa and 59 others regarding the issuance of the “Transitional Justice Law”, to a joint committee of the constitutional affairs, plan, budget and human rights committees, which would discuss and present it for community dialogue, with the aim of approving it, in order to enable retribution for victims of crimes Corruption, violence, and human rights violations, with retroactive effect starting in 2005. The draft law focused on: Forming a fact-finding committee that has the right to visit prisons without prior notice - Retrospective application From January 1, 2005, consider reconciliation with those who bear arms after submitting a written statement of the facts That he committed and his pledge to renounce violence, it is permissible to investigate the crimes that took place against peaceful demonstrators - to establish a website to receive citizens' notifications while adhering to the confidentiality of their information, to allow reconciliation for those involved in crimes after a year of law enforcement.
Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of Parliament, decided to refer a draft law submitted by the government to establish a judicial committee to reserve and manage the disposal of funds for terrorist and terrorist groups and entities affiliated to it, to the Committee for Constitutional and Legislative Affairs.
The House of Representatives, through the Industry Committee headed by Eng. Ahmed Samir, approved a bill amending some provisions of Law No. 7 of 1991 regarding some provisions related to private state property.
MP Mohamed Anwar Sadat, head of the Reform and Development Party, has submitted an amendment to the Terrorism Law, through which the Egyptian government, those affected and victims of terrorist operations are allowed to file direct claims against the sponsoring, financed and conspiratorial parties, and to participate in terrorist operations against Egypt, whether these parties are local groups, international organizations or governments. other countries.
The Speaker of Parliament referred a draft law submitted by MP Abdel Moneim Alami and 75 deputies regarding the establishment of a fund to protect youth from the effects of unemployment and poverty to a joint committee of the plan and budget committees, youth, sports, solidarity, family and people with disabilities.
Muhammad Ismail, a member of Parliament for the Bulaq Dakrour constituency, and a member of the Parliament's Housing Committee, proposed a bill to control prices and eliminate the greed of merchants and the disappearance of consumer goods that the citizen depends on in his daily life. The proposal included setting a specific pricing for selling goods; To eliminate the storage of goods so that the merchant does not achieve more profits at the expense of the simple citizen.

as such In the plenary session, the House of Representatives approved 6 licensing agreements for the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources to contract with some oil and gas companies to search for oil and oil and exploit them in a number of regions. It comes in the forefront: -

A draft law authorizing the Minister of Petroleum to contract with the General Petroleum Corporation to search for, develop and exploit oil in the Choucair Marine Development Zone in the Gulf of Suez
A draft law authorizing the Minister of Petroleum to contract with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and the Edison International Company (SBA) to search for gas and crude oil and exploit them in the Northeast of Habi marine area in the Mediterranean,
A draft law authorizing the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources in contracting with the Holding Company for Natural Gases, IOC Production BV, BP Exploration (Delta) Ltd., and Total E & B Egypt Block 7BV to search for gas and crude oil and exploit them in the northern Hammad marine area in the Mediterranean .
The Council also approved a draft law licensing the Minister of Petroleum to enter into contracts with the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company and the Exploration Company (Delta).
Dr. Ali Abdel-Aal, Speaker of Parliament, referred Presidential Resolution No. 411 of 2016 approving the agreement between the governments of Egypt and Germany regarding technical cooperation for the year 2014, to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee.

Second: The oversight role of Parliament

Last month, a large number of representatives submitted requests for information on various topics, the most important of which were: -

Deputy Mohamed Zakaria Mohieddin, Undersecretary of the Industry Committee in the House of Representatives, submitted an urgent briefing request to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Petroleum, regarding the government's launch of the largest tender for the purchase of natural gas to secure 96 shipments of gas during the period from 2017-2018.
Deputy Mohamed Farag Amer submitted a briefing request addressed to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Petroleum regarding the waste and lack of optimal exploitation of the natural gas resources in Egypt.
Representative Talaat Khalil, a member of the Parliament's Plan and Budget Committee, submitted a request for a briefing to Eng. Sherif Ismail and Minister of Culture Helmy Al-Nimnam regarding holding a dinner for 500 people in the open theater at the Egyptian Opera House to eat lamb inside the open theater.
Amal Rizkallah, a member of Parliament from the city of Ismailia, said that she submitted a request to be informed of the council’s secretariat regarding the “black seed” disease that affected the mango crop.
Representative Ahmed Farghal, Secretary of the Parliament's Economic Committee, submitted a briefing request against Housing Minister Mostafa Madbouly, for the ministry's violation of contracting conditions regarding the Port Said Mortgage Fund, which provides a fake inquiry service.
Mahmoud Rashad Habib, a member of Parliament, said that he submitted a request for information to Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister and Minister of Health, due to the lack of medical solutions, which led to an increase in its price from 3 pounds per package to 20 pounds, and despite the increase in the price, it is still not available. In pharmacies, which threatens the lives of patients.
Omar Hamroush, a member of Parliament, called for the necessity of reviewing the health system in all governorates of the republic once again, taking into account the low level of service and the presence of many hospitals consisting of concrete structures and buildings only, and some of them are closed.
Representative Osama Sharshar, a member of Parliament, said that he submitted a briefing request to Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of Parliament, addressed to Major General Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, Minister of Interior, regarding the true reasons for what happened in Future Prison in the Ismailia Governorate and the escape of terrorists from this prison
Dr. Mohamed Fouad, a member of the House of Representatives for the Al-Wafd Party, the Urban Department, submitted a briefing request to Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of Parliament, addressed to the Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, and Dr. Al-Hilali El-Sherbiny, Minister of Education, regarding delaying the payment allocated to the development of a number of schools in Alexandria Provided by the Educational Projects Support and Development Fund.
Dr. Mohamed Fouad, a member of the House of Representatives from the Al-Wafd Party, the Omrania Department, submitted a briefing request to Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of the Council, addressed to Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister, and Dr. Ahmed Emad El-Din Rady, Minister of Health, regarding the delay in disbursing the dues for dialysis patients at centers Dialysis in Giza.
Deputy Fayez Abu Khadra, a member of the Manpower Committee, said that he submitted a request for information to Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister. Abu Khadra stressed that the demand is about the crazy rise in the prices of goods and services, and the government's plan to confront the greed of merchants and control prices.
The delegation member, Dr. Muhammad Khalifa, a member of the House of Representatives from the Mahalla district, submitted a request to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health and Manpower regarding the reason for not issuing the Comprehensive Health Insurance Law.
Representative Zainab Salem, a member of the House of Representatives, announced that she submitted an urgent statement to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Local Development, regarding the negligence of covering lighting poles, which caused the death of citizens in Sharkia Governorate.
Luxor, and a member of Parliament's Manpower Committee, said that he would submit a request for a briefing to the Minister of Tourism regarding the Temple of Esna.
Mustafa Salem, a member of Parliament for the Free Egyptians Party for the Tahta constituency in Sohag, undersecretary for the Plan and Budget Committee, submitted a briefing request to Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, accusing the National Authority for Drinking Water and Sanitation of wasting public money as a result of its exploitation of the new Shatura water station, which Its construction cost more than 200 million pounds, equivalent to only 20% of its production capacity.
Representative Alaa Wali submitted three urgent briefing requests addressed to Dr. Hilali Al-Sherbiny, Minister of Education, regarding Kerdasa’s educational suffering, represented by the suffering of parents and students from the decrease in the number of teachers in all disciplines in Kerdasa schools, villages and their affiliated regions, as well as the lack of sufficient general secondary classes for students in the regions of “ Kafr Hakim, Cambra and the villages of Kerdasa, ”as well as due to the high population density in these areas, and students struggle to go to neighboring villages to learn, in addition to the absence of an administrative building for the educational administration in Kerdasa.
Representative Alaa Wali submitted an urgent notification request to the Minister of Culture regarding the closure of the vast majority of cultural libraries in Kerdasa district, which led to the lack of cultural service in the Kerdasa region.
Eng. Muhammad Al-Husi, a member of the House of Representatives, said that he submitted a request for a briefing to the Minister of Local Development and the Prime Minister to legalize the seizure of agricultural lands and lands of state property, and re-pricing again through a committee due to the exaggerated prices in some areas, such as the villages of Jamsa al-Balad, whose people are threatened by throwing In prison due to the lack of physical space for them.
Deputy Mohamed Zakaria Mohieddin, Undersecretary of the Industry Committee, submitted an urgent notification request to Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister and Dr. Essam Fayed, Minister of Agriculture, regarding the report issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, which states that Egypt imported 8 million 249 thousand tons of yellow corn, that is, approximately 107 Billions of dollars at a time Egypt suffers from a shortage of hard currency, although this amount can be grown locally.
MP Haitham Al Hariri submitted a request for information to the Minister of Transport, Jalal Al-Saeed, regarding the exaggerated increase in traffic fees on highways, especially the Alexandria Desert Road.

The month of Aktur also witnessed the presentation of a large number of urgent data, the most important of which were: -

Dr. Mohamed Fouad, a member of the House of Representatives for the Wafd Party in the Omraniyya district in Giza governorate, made an urgent statement to Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of Parliament, addressed to the Prime Minister, Eng. Sherif Ismail, and Minister of Supply, Major General Muhammad Ali Moslehi, regarding the suspension of the ration card system in the catering offices In Giza.
Deputy Issam El-Din Al-Qadi, a member of the House of Representatives from Al-Buhaira district, submitted an urgent statement to Eng. Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister, and Dr. Mohamed Abdel Aty, Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, about the acute shortage of irrigation water quantities in Buhaira Governorate.
Representative Khaled Hanafi, a member of Parliament, presented an urgent statement addressed to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Supply, Trade and Industry regarding the monopoly of a group of traders and their fabrication of crises, especially the sugar crisis.
Representative Ghada Saqr, a member of Parliament, made an urgent statement addressed to the Minister of Education, the Minister of Interior, and the Minister of Justice, about what was raised about the liquidation of Damietta Children's Paradise School, which is one of the edifices of education in the governorate.
Representative Khaled Saleh Abu Zuhad, a member of the House of Representatives from Juhayna constituency, submitted an urgent statement to the Speaker of Parliament, Dr. Ali Abdel-Aal, against Prime Minister Sharif Ismail and Investment Minister Dalia Khorshid, regarding the chaos occurring on satellite channels.
Representative “Faika Fahim,” a member of the House of Representatives, made an urgent statement to the Prime Minister and Minister of Antiquities on the issue of government neglect of archaeological and historical areas, especially since the phenomenon of demolishing properties of an archaeological nature has intensified lately.
Dr. Mohamed Fouad, Member of Parliament, presented Dr. Ali Abdel Aal with an urgent statement addressed to Engineer Sherif Ismail, Prime Minister, Minister of Investment Dalia Khorshid, Engineer Tariq Qabeel, Minister of Industry, and Major General Muhammad Ali Masilhi, Minister of Supply, regarding the measures that have been taken by the executive authorities towards Some factories and companies specializing in food industries, which were represented in the raiding of the warehouses of those factories and the confiscation of sugar stocks for the activity of manufacturing these products in an unjustified manner, which led to the semi-final cessation of work on the production lines of these factories, noting that these factories are operating in Egypt in a manner. Legitimate according to legal contracts concluded with state agencies, and what was confiscated from its warehouses is a natural quantity related to the progress of work only.

The parliament also witnessed the deputies presenting a number of questions to the government, the most important of which were: -

MP Muhammad Anwar Sadat, head of the Reform and Development Party, submitted a question to Dr. Hilali Al-Sherbiny, Minister of Education, to inform him of the dates for periodic detection of drug abuse for school bus drivers, the last date in which drivers were made and subjected to this examination and the number of cases that were caught during the examination procedure during the past two years, What are the measures taken by the Ministry to curb this problem in order to preserve the lives of our students?
Representative Alaa Wali submitted a question to the Speaker of Parliament addressed to the engineer, Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, regarding the estimated cost of accidents during the year 2015, which amounted to 30.2 billion pounds as a result of 14.5 thousand accidents, an increase of 1 % from 2014.
*** It is worth noting that the Council did not witness any interrogations during a month.

Third: Parliament's relationship with the executive and the provision of services

Ashraf Emara, a member of Parliament, intervened to resolve the issue of taxi drivers gathering between Ismailia and Cairo, against the construction of a transportation line to the tenth of Ramadan city.
Deputy Mohamed Ahmed Zayed submitted that he submitted a request to Major General Ahmed Dhaif Saqr, Governor of Gharbia, regarding the allocation of the plot of land that was reclaimed at Omar Bey Bank, next to the Azizia Hospital, for the work of the comprehensive developmental community project in Azizia, which includes the graduate training center and the commercial market, in an effort to solve Unemployment problems in the village of Azizia.
Ihab Ghatati, a member of Parliament, communicated with the Ministry of Supply and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers about the sugar crisis after receiving many complaints from citizens about the shortage of available quantities within the department, pointing out that the department was supplied with 400 tons of Al Haram store, located on Zaghloul Road.
Representative Samir El-Khouly, a member of the House of Representatives, submitted a request to Major General Ahmed Dhaif Saqr, Governor of Gharbia, to provide cars for the sale of foodstuffs at reduced prices in all villages of the Tanta Center, because the people of the Tanta Center villages suffer from high food prices and the greed of merchants, and based on the initiative of President Abd Fattah El-Sisi, president of the republic to fight the high prices.
Deputy Badawi Al-Nawishi, a member of the House of Representatives for the Watan Future Party, terminated the sanitation appropriations for the villages of Al-Maymoun and Abu Sir al-Malaq, and established a slope network for the remaining part of the village.
Representative Mahmoud Badr, a member of Parliament, obtained the approval of the Ministry of Solidarity to include the “Shebin Al-Qanater” area in Qalyubia within the “Solidarity and Dignity” project
Representative Ahmed Al-Tantawi obtained the approval of Eng. Khaled Abdel Aziz, Minister of Youth and Sports, to support Qaleen Al-Balad Sports Club with an amount of one hundred thousand pounds, half of which will be spent immediately and the rest during the current fiscal year.
Representative Solaf Darwish submitted a request to the Qalyubia Governorate regarding the laying of Izbat Abdullah Pasha Tribal Road, as part of the governorate's resurfacing plan for the current 2016-2017 year.
Deputy Ali Abu Dawla organized a medical convoy in cooperation and coordination with a number of consultants and specialists in all medical specialties, to examine patients for free in their private clinics.
MP Tareq Radwan organized a medical convoy for early detection of cases infected with C virus in Kafr El-Sheikh.
Representative Muhammad Al-Koumi of the Free Egyptians Party provided 60 tons of food supplies for the people of Ain Shams in cooperation with the Ministry of Supply and my association project.
Muhammad Abidi, Member of Parliament, obtained the approval of Dr. Ahmed Emad, Minister of Health, to provide a “CR” acidification device to Sidi Salem Central Hospital.
Parliamentarian Mustafa Ragheb Abu Zaid, a member of Parliament, organized a medical convoy for early detection of C virus, in the villages of Sinbat and Kafr al-Arab belonging to the Zefta Center.
Representative Alaa Wali, head of the Parliament's Housing, Utilities and Reconstruction Committee, organized convoys and initiatives to sell sugar at reduced prices to the people of his district and several other regions, to contribute to solving the shortage and high sugar prices in the market.
Engineer Abdul Salam Al-Khadrawy, a member of Parliament, held a major celebration to honor 84 students from the first public and technical certificates in East Shubra Al-Khaimah.

Fourth: Parliament's foreign relations

Dr. Ali Abdel Aal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, participated in the meetings of the Executive Office of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean, held at the headquarters of the Italian Parliament in Rome headed by Mrs. Laura Boldrini, President of the Italian House of Representatives, and in the presence of Pietro Grasso, President of the Italian Senate, and David Sassoli, Vice President The European Parliament and a number of chairs of the specialized committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, President of the Egyptian Parliament, delivered Egypt's speech at the opening session of the 135th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, held in Geneva, Switzerland, in which he spoke during the general debate on the topic: “Human rights violations as a harbinger of conflict: Parliament with an early response.”
Ambassador Mohamed El-Orabi met with Mrs. Tatiana Miskova, Ambassador of Slovenia in Cairo. The two parties are expected to sign a number of international agreements, and the ambassador noted that a businessmen association will be formed between the Egyptian and Slovenian sides. The ambassador expressed her desire to establish a parliamentary friendship association between the parliaments of the two countries, and Ambassador Al-Arabi confirmed his intention to convey this desire to Prof. Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of Parliament, and expressed a desire to benefit from the Slovenian experience in waste recycling, as Slovenia is one of the leading countries in this field.
The Council received Mr. Rogers Nkudo Darng, Speaker of the Pan-African Parliament, who was greeted with the welcome and applause of the representatives, while he was on the balcony of the House of Representatives.
Representative Angie Mourad, a member of the Egyptian-French Parliamentary Friendship Association headed by Representative Ayman Abu Al-Ela, received a French delegation from the French Senate and a number of French journalists, as the visit included a set of official meetings and tour tours within the framework of the Parliamentary Friendship Association's work plan.

Fifth: Council conditions

Dr. Ali Abdel-Al, Speaker of the House of Representatives, announced that the Parliament’s Bureau had received several communications against Representative Ilhami Ajina, a member of the Council’s Manpower Committee, due to his statements regarding virginity detection for Egyptian girls before their enrollment in universities, and that it would refer him to the Values Committee for investigation in this regard.
Representative Hussein Abu Jad, the winner of the House of Representatives seat for the Hadayek al-Qobba district, in the by-elections held after the death of MP Sayed Farraj, the late deputy constituency, took the legal oath before the plenary session of the House of Representatives at the opening of the second session.
Mrs. Sherine Abdel Aziz Bayoumi was sworn in as a member of the Council to replace the deceased Deputy Amira Rifaat in a collision at the beginning of last October, when the deputy for a list in love with Egypt, the Cairo Sector District, Central and South Delta
The elections for the office bodies of the Parliament's specific committees, which were contested by Parliament deputies for the committee chair seats and the agency seats for each committee and the secretarial seat, ended, and the results resulted in the continuation of 14 deputies from the chairs of the first round committees in their places by acclamation, while 4 others continued in the presidency also after running in the elections. In the face of competitors, and in the same context, the elections resulted in 4 new chairpersons of qualitative committees who won the presidency, while 3 others won by acclamation.

Sixth: final conclusions

In general, parliamentary performance improved with the beginning of the second session of Parliament, which was evident in the beginning of the improvement in the level of discussions, with close cooperation between MPs and the government in the areas that were also agreed upon in terms of parliament using its tools to face the problems related to the executive management of the state
Last month also witnessed the persistence of the phenomenon of the absence of a large percentage of MPs from voting on important laws such as the Civil Service Law, which passed the approval rate of 67% only from the total number of members due to the absence of more than 27% of the number of MPs from attending the session, 26 MPs rejected, and 6 abstentions.
The period covered by the report also witnessed the continuation of the phenomenon of deputies performing the work of elected local popular councils as a result of the failure to approve the Local Administration Law and the National Elections Commission Law.
Also, despite the announcement by many members of Parliament that some protectionist laws were discussed from economic decisions that were a matter of controversy throughout the period covered by the report, but until now they have not been discussed, on top of which is the comprehensive health insurance law also the progressive tax law