Egypt's legislature Cairo, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2016 (AP)
In a statement to reporters Tuesday, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi El-Agati stressed that the House of Representatives – Egypt's lower house parliament – will be issuing a report to President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi indicating why MPs voted down the Civil Service Law on 20 January.
"This report, which is being prepared in consultation with the government, should indicate in clear-cut terms why MPs voted down the law," said El-Agati, also disclosing that "parliament's committee on labour force is playing a leading role in preparing this report because its member-MPs were the ones who fiercely led the attacks against the law and led other MPs to reject it."
The law, which was ratified in March by President El-Sisi in the absence of a parliament and ahead of Egypt's International Economic Conference, aims to reform Egypt’s administrative apparatus in order to lessen the wage burden on state finances and encourage private investment.
El-Agati indicated that MPs approved 90 percent of the law's articles.
"The articles they rejected amount to no more than 10 percent and most of them relate to penalties to be imposed on government employees and other related issues, such as the rejection of an annual bonus of 5 percent," said El-Agati.
El-Agati said that he believes MPs were under heavy popular pressure to reject the Civil Service Law.
"The discussion of this law came within the context of parliament's review of 341 decrees passed since the new constitution came into effect in January 2014 within 15 days [of the first session], and as a result it did not receive adequate discussion, [all the while] MPs were being slammed as endorsing all the laws," said El-Agati.
El-Agati concluded that once the president and the government receive the MPs' report on the law, the government will move to amend it to reach a common ground with parliament.
El-Agati also said the government is currently preparing to deliver its policy statement before parliament in accordance with Article 146 of the new constitution.
"But this statement will come only after president El-Sisi delivers a public speech before parliament," said El-Agati.
Egypt's House of Representatives will meet 7 February to discuss a new law aimed at updating its internal by-laws and code of conduct to go in line with the new constitution and reinforce its watchdog roles.
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