In the aftermath of the 25 January 2011 Revolution a number of hotly debated constitutional declarations were issued, either under the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) that governed the country from February 2011 until June 2012, or under the deposed Morsi regime from June 2012 to June 2013. In addition to these constitutional declarations came the shocking constitution of 2012 that created a wide chasm in Egyptian society at large. At the moment a new committee was established by virtue of Article 28 of the constitutional declaration issued by Interim President Adli Mansour, tasked with either amending the 2012 constitution or drafting a new constitution, it was provided a week to receive proposals on amendments and 30 days to complete its task. As a matter of fact, it would be better for this committee to write the new charter from scratch and ignore the 2012 constitution, because of the manner in which the assembly that drafted it was formed and how it was dominated by a certain political trend— even the percentage of Egyptians that voted in the referendum on that constitution. Drafting a modern constitution that reflects the aspirations of Egyptians after two revolutions in two years requires that care be taken to avoid the shortcomings of previous constitutions and at the same time meet developments that occurred since the amended 1971 constitution. The background on the Egyptian economic position is found in the economic articles of the amended 1971 constitution (articles 23-39), which are fine; and in economic articles in the suspended 2012 constitution (articles 14-30), which are weak in language and did not add any innovation to the articles even in the numbers. In the constitutional declarations of 30 March 2011 issued by SCAF, Article 5 states: “The economy of the Arab Republic of Egypt is based upon promoting economic activity and social justice and securing varied forms of ownership and preserving the rights of workers.” In the same vein, Article 3 of the July 2013 constitutional declaration issued by Mansour states: “The economic system is based upon social justice; paying taxes and public costs is a duty according to the law; the law organises the specification of, amending and annulling public taxes. No one is exempted from taxes unless specified by the law and no one can be charged by taxes and fees outside the sphere of the law.” I would like to introduce some suggestions on the economic aspects of the new constitution. As a matter of fact, deep readings of the economic articles in the amended constitution of 1971 and the 2012 constitution makes it clear that the 1971 constitution was more representative and expressive of real economic conditions. Article 4 of the 1971 amended constitution stipulates: “The economic basis of the Arab Republic of Egypt is the socialist democratic system built on sufficiency and justice, in a manner that prevents malpractices and leads to narrowing the difference between incomes; protects legal earnings; and guarantees equality in distributing burdens and public costs.” What is missing in the suspended constitution and the declarations before and after it? The answer is that a number of articles must be added and put in a deep and comprehensive manner, such as on the informal economy; social justice; industrialisation; and protecting the national economy and free competition. In the coming constitution, three main topics should be dealt with earnestly: the informal sector; social justice; and industrialisation. First of all, I propose that Article 4 of the amended 1971 constitution can be put as is in the currently drafted constitution. Furthermore, I propose that all articles regarding economic issues from the amended 1971 constitution be kept entirely as they are in the coming constitution, since the drafters of 2012 constitution used nearly the same articles but in very poor language. Let us start with the informal sector: simply the informal sector is seen as a set of economic units that do not comply totally or partially with government regulation. I propose the following article to be included in the economic attributes of the coming constitution concerning the informal sector: “The informal sector is part and parcel of the Egyptian economy and the government must adopt the due measures to integrate it into the formal economy.” Why should the informal economy be given due attention in the coming constitution? The answer is that the informal economy in Egypt covers a wide range of activities. It includes both informal enterprises and informal employment, each of which constitutes a large portion of the economy. Informal enterprises constitute nearly 82 per cent of total economic units, while informal employment constitutes nearly 40 per cent of the total labour force in Egypt. Poor household members are either self-employed or employees in the informal sector. Furthermore, incomes of families in extreme poverty are mainly from the informal sector. Workers in the informal sector are poorly remunerated, underemployed, enjoy no social protection, are subject to high risk and injury on a daily basis, and have no safety net to help them and their families survive on a reduced or cut income. These features are per se enough to draft an article on the informal sector in the constitution. On social justice, the amended 1971 constitution in Article 38 stated: “The taxation system is based upon social justice.” The suspended 2012 constitution in Article 26 stated: “Social justice is the basis for taxes and other financial costs.” Even the latest constitutional declaration uses the same wording. It seems there is a common understanding between drafters of the constitutions that social justice is restricted to taxes and wages. Social justice should be inclusive process covers all human rights, not only the financial perspective. In this regard I propose the following on social justice to be included in the coming constitution: “Human rights are the basis for social justice.” On industrialisation, it is high time to give the industrialisation due importance since it is the cornerstone of economic development. Therefore, I propose the following: “The government and the private sector are jointly cooperating in nurturing micro and small and medium sized enterprises, and deepening industrialisation, through encouraging innovation, securing training and providing financial resources.” On protecting the national economy and free competition, since the 1971 amended constitution a large number of economic developments have taken place and there was no reference to them in the suspended constitution of 2012. The entire framework of the economic environment should specify the governing rules. In this regard I propose the following: “The state ensures protection of the national economy from unfair trade practices; the protection of competition and prohibition of monopolistic practices, and ensures protection of the consumer”— all these as stipulated by law.
The writer is an international trade expert and general manager of the Anti-Dumping, Trade Agreements Sector at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
