The new civil service law is too important to depend on the outcome of this Saturday's demonstration, called by independent unions, or to move ahead unfazed without better preparations for its implementation and consequences.
Overall the law is good; it seeks to modernise the civil service, improve transparency in appointments, and introduce competence as a basis for employee evaluation and promotion.
These are positive objectives that can reform the profound dysfunction of the Egyptian administrative system. But the way the law was issued was flawed. There was no necessity or urgency justifying the president’s issuance of the law in the absence of the parliament, several public agencies are excluded from the scope of its application, and most of its provisions were deferred to the implementing regulations for further elaboration.
Even so, the law represents an opportunity for genuine reforms in the state apparatus that can improve government services, rationalize public spending, and better employee working conditions.
Shortcomings can be amended, clarified, and resolved through compromise, but without reverting to a situation that perpetuates government corruption and an inability to evolve and meet contemporary development needs. That’s why the dispute over the law should not become a zero-sum conflict, ending with its wholesale repeal and a return to the status quo, or refusal to amend it or discuss its implementing requirements.
By its nature, the civil service law is not one that can be implemented simply by publishing it in the Official Gazette, then making a few regulatory changes. This is a law that entails major institutional shifts and touches the lives of millions of workers and their families, who together constitute one-quarter of Egyptian society.
Institutional change is not brought about solely through legislation; it requires awareness, training, changes in detailed directives and regulations, incremental implementation, trial and error, mechanisms for follow-up, measurement, and correction, and a change in culture and conduct.
Bureaucracies around the world, including the venerable Egyptian one, are known for their capacity to absorb, acclimate to, and then gradually disregard statutory changes, slowly expanding the scope of exceptions until conditions revert to their status prior to the reform.
I’m concerned that the government sees the challenge it faces as making it through this week's demonstration, by compromise or confrontation. The tougher challenge is making the necessary amendments to the law, negotiating, patiently and with an open mind on the implementing regulations with the parties affected, and being persuaded of the need for an incremental application of the law. Only in this way can it be absorbed institutionally and achieve its primary objectives.
Earlier I advocated postponing the law pending the election of the parliament and a discussion of the implementing regulations, but this is no longer an option. The state is set on applying the law immediately, and some of its wage provisions went into effect in early July and cannot be reversed. The important thing now is not to get stuck here.
The significance of the issue and the need for negotiation and concessions by all parties dictate a search for alternative solutions and a resolution to the crisis that serves the public interest.
This public interest requires that those calling for the demonstration consider the wisdom of their appeal, especially since their demands are well known and the government confirms it is willing to listen to their proposals.
In turn, the government should explicitly pledge to continue discussing proposals and alternatives for the law and its implementing regulations, consider the demands and fears of civil servants, and reach a balance between their interests and the interest of society and the national economy.
More importantly, the government must declare that whatever agreements are reached on the law and its regulations, they will be applied gradually and with clear programs for awareness, training, and evaluation.
So can there be room for compromise?
The writer holds a PhD in financial law from the London School of Economics. He is former deputy prime minister, former chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and former chairman of the General Authority for Investment.
This article was published in Arabic in El-Shorouq newspaper on Tuesday, 8 September.
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