Disputes cast shadow on final stage of amending Egypt's constitution

Discussions on a final draft of the constitution stumble on controversial articles regulating the performance of the armed forces and judicial authorities

The writing of articles regulating the performance of the armed forces and judicial authorities have so far proved difficult for the 50-Member Committee tasked with amending Egypt's 2012 constitution as part of the country's new political roadmap.
Mohamed Salmawy, media spokesperson for the 50-Member Committee, told a press conference on Tuesday that "189 articles have so far been drafted by the committee."
"Out of these, we have 18 new articles, mostly instituting new freedoms in the new constitution," said Salmawy, adding that "We have not so far reached settlement over the controversial articles regulating the performance of the armed forces and judicial authorities."
As a result, Salmawy indicated that it was decided that subcommittees drafting chapters related the army and judicial authorities hold a series of closed-door meetings in the coming three days (Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday) to reach a settlement on them.
"So when we hold a plenary meeting next Sunday, we hope that all the articles of the new constitution will be complete and ready for discussion."
On Wednesday , Amr Moussa, chairman of the 50-Member Committee, stressed that the army has by no means exerted pressure on the body, either to sustain its privileges or establish personal immunity for Minister of Defence Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi
Moussa, addressing a meeting held by the national dialogue subcommittee, said: "It is not on the mind of the 50-Member Committee to write the constitution in a way that grants special immunity to anybody, including the minister of defence himself."
Moussa stressed that "this is far from the truth and the representative of the armed forces has never asked for it."
Moussa, however, confirmed that "some authorities moved to act as lobby groups aiming to defend their interests and impose their conditions on the new constitution." For example, Moussa said, judicial authorities like the administrative prosecution authority and the state cases authority are now acting as lobbies, pressing their demands.
"Lobbies are now a fact all over the world," said Moussa, arguing that "the armed forces also aims to defend its interests, but we do not take this as a kind of pressure being exerted on the 50-Member Committee to give a special immunity to anyone, even the minister of defence himself, but we call it an accepted way of lobbying."
Salmawy, spokesman of the committee, also said the dispute on articles related to the army is now focused on whether civilians ought ever to be subject to trial before military courts, and on who should appoint the minister of defence. "To my knowledge, I think the gap of differences over these two issues is closing and we will be able to reach an agreement very soon," said Salmawy.
Some members of the committee, who asked not to be identified, told Al-Ahram Online that "two proposals are now on the table." "The first is that the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) maintain the right of naming the minister of defence for just two presidential terms (eight years), while the second aims to give the SCAF the right of naming three nominees to the post, with the president left to select one," the source said.
On the judicial authority, Salmawy said: "Judicial authorities are still very divided over the drafting of their articles." "It is not our problem and we hope that they reach agreement soon, so that the articles regulating their performance become ready for discussion next Sunday."
Mohamed Ghoneim, a prominent kidney surgeon and a member of the 50-Member Committee, told parliamentary correspondents Wednesday that "a subcommittee entrusted with reviewing the language of the new constitution has so far drafted 189 articles."
Ghoneim indicated that "several closed door meetings will be held to reach agreement on the language of the articles and seek agreement on certain unresolved issues."
"We hope that this will be completed by the middle of next week," said Ghoneim.
Moussa held a sudden meeting Wednesday with Interim President Adly Mansour to discuss the draft constitution's unresolved issues, notably those related to judicial authorities.
Informed sources indicated that Moussa seeks to draw upon Mansour's role as chairman of the High Constitutional Court to help judicial authorities reach agreement on articles regulating their performance in the new constitution.
Meanwhile, Salmawy dismissed rumours that 10 constitutional law professors decided to boycott the meetings of the 50-Member Committee.
Salmawy said that some of these experts, who submitted a draft constitution to the 50-Member Committee, withdrew from the committee's plenary meeting Tuesday only for technical reasons.
"They decided to withdraw when the committee's secretary-general and president of Cairo University, Gaber Nassar, indicated that the meeting must include basic members with voting powers only," said Salmawy. He explained that "the presidential decree issued on 8 July indicated that when the matter comes to voting, basic members of the 50-Member Committee only are allowed to attend."
Magdy Al-Agaty, among the constitutional law professors, strongly denied that any of the professors [angrily] withdrew from Tuesday's meeting, arguing that, "It was just a technical disagreement, but all should step up efforts to issue a new constitution for Egypt."
Salmawy said all plenary meetings of the 50-Member Committee will remain closed to the public until a complete draft constitution is reached. "When there will be open discussion of this draft — meetings that the media will be allowed to cover," said Salmawy.
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