Opposition forces, including the banned Muslim Brotherhood, have been attempting to detract from the Constitutional amendments newly proposed by creating side issues and by undermining the image of public order in this country. However, the time has come for organizing our affairs. In this context, it is essential that we debate Group 4 and 15 of the package of amendments submitted by President Hosni Mubarak in his letter to the People's Assembly and Shura Council.

The abolishing of the position of the Socialist Prosecutor-General (Chapter 6 : Article 179) enables lawmakers to promulgate the legislations needed to protect society from terrorism. The amendment aims at changing emergency laws into an enduring anti-terror legislation. Fighting terrorism as a defense mechanism has tools embedded in the Constitution; tools which restrain the Authorities and safeguard the rights of individuals. These are incorporated in Article 41 paragraph 1, Article 44 and Article 45 paragraph 2.

A state of public order is defined as follows:

1. A realistic counter-anarchy condition where public interests rise high above all other interests.

2. The conditions required to maintain security and to protect the public moral code are also essential to establish good relations between citizens. The concept of fighting terrorism may therefore be introduced as part of the package.

3. The Egyptian Constitution separates between the State and the Executive. It is therefore proposed that mention should be given of anti-terrorism efforts in Article 1, relating to citizenship. The Article could be amended to read as follows: "Citizenship and fighting terrorism are the foundations of the State in Egypt".

Entitled "Fighting Terrorism", Chapter 6 should consist only of two articles. The first should deal with terrorism as a threat to public order; the second should attempt to re-establish the authority of administrative arrest and detention, which in Egypt is only associated with bureaucracy and the Administration.

4. This should constitute an entrance to re-adjusting the State's productive, economic and political relations under a system of capitalistic solidarity.

The status of the Shura Council as an advisory body should also be reconsidered. The question to be addressed here concerns the procedures, which should be followed, should differences arise between the People's Assembly and the Shura Council over a given issue. In this case, it is not the President's job, as an arbitrator between the authorities, to intervene, the fact being that these differences have arisen within one and the same authority and not between two different authorities. It is proposed that a liaison office should be set up to dissolve inconsistencies.

Another issue to be pondered, here, relates to the conceptual and organizational drafts liable to rally public support for the Constitutional amendments.

Al Akhbar
Dr. Gehad 'Oda
25/2/2007