With the amendments proposed by President Hosni Mubarak to 34 Articles of the Constitution, there seems to be a need for a number of new laws to be promulgated as supplements.

Over the past 80 or so years, beginning with the promulgation of the 1923 liberal Constitution down to the proclamation of the Socialist Constitutions of 1956, 1958, 1964 and 1971, a great many changes have been introduced to the Constitutional foundations. Still, some laws have remained unchanged.

What we need at present is to purge and edit existing laws to the shortest possible version, with the hypothesis being that all people should know the law. Given the huge number of legislation and the amount of amendments introduced to it over the years, it has become impossible to follow their evolution not only by the layman but also by specialists in the field.

The media has an important role to play in spreading legislative culture. People from all walks of life and in the various age groups should be aware of new laws as soon as they are promulgated. All mass media should collaborate including radio, television and the press. The official gazette should not be the only tool to be relied on, given the fact that it is used only by researchers and specialists. Our purpose is to spread law awareness by all means possible.

Khaled al-Qadi
Al-Ahram
8/2/2007