The People's Assembly is scheduled to hear seven more interpellations, Gamal Essam El-Din reports Undeterred by referring their colleague Ashraf Badreddin to the Ethics Committee for questioning on mischievous behaviour, independent and opposition MPs remain determined to challenge the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif with more interpellations. A total of 114 have been submitted so far. On Sunday the People's Assembly, Egypt's lower house of parliament, is scheduled to fix a timetable to discuss seven more interpellations, or questions -- five submitted by Muslim Brotherhood MPs, and one each by representatives of the Wafd and Karama (Dignity) parties. The first of the Brotherhood's interpellations claims that the government was complicit with Israel in imposing a siege on Gaza and the killing of Palestinians in the Strip. In addition, Brotherhood MP Hamdi Hassan claims that the government has kept selling cheap natural gas to Israel in spite of Israel's 22-day bloody war against the Palestinians of Gaza. Hassan's interpellation faced a wave of attacks from parliament speaker Fathi Sorour and Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Moufid Shehab, accusing him of doing his best to tarnish the image of Egypt on foreign television channels, particularly the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera. Sorour accused Hassan of divulging the details of his interpellation on Al-Jazeera ahead of being accepted by parliament. Mohamed Abdel-Alim, a Wafdist MP, joined forces with Hassan, alleging that the government violated the constitution by refusing to abide by a recent Administrative Court ruling halting the export of natural gas to Israel. More than 80 Brotherhood MPs led by Hussein Ibrahim have drafted a new law aimed at legally banning the export of natural gas to Israel. Hussein alleged that the government could have used the Administrative Court ruling as justification to stop exporting gas to Israel. "Unfortunately," Hussein said, "the government went on exporting gas to the Zionist enemy, ignoring the ruling and the Israeli aggression on the people of Gaza." In response, Sorour insisted that the recent Administrative Court ruling is not yet final. "We have to wait until a final verdict is delivered by the Supreme Administrative Court on 2 February," said Sorour. Minister of Petroleum Sameh Fahmi stressed that the government is ready to stop exporting gas to Israel if the verdict of the Supreme Administrative Court is in favour. Sabri Khalafallah, another Brotherhood MP, submitted three interpellations covering a range of embarrassing issues. The first seeks to blame the government for what he called "the bad security policies which have given priority to targeting political opponents at the expense of containing criminal offences." In his second interpellation, Khalafallah takes the government and ministers of irrigation and justice to task for freezing the activities of the Syndicate of Engineers and delaying indefinitely its elections. The Syndicate of Engineers has been bogged down in legal disputes since 1995, forcing the government to put it under judicial supervision and with Minister of Irrigation Mahmoud Abu Zeid running its affairs. Shehab said a new law regulating the activities of the elections of professional syndicates is currently on top of the legislative agenda of the government. "The new law will put an end to legal disputes currently undermining professional syndicates and opens the door for democratic elections of its ranks," said Shehab. Khalafallah directed a third interpellation at Minister of Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, blaming him for phasing out the technology valley project in Ismailia governorate and misusing public funds allocated to it. Azab Mustafa, another Brotherhood MP, has directed an interpellation citing allegations of graft and kickbacks in the privatisation deal of Egypt's old department store Omar Effendi. Mustafa claims that Omar Effendi was sold for less than what it should have cost, with money paid under the table to allow a Saudi company to conclude the deal. Omar Effendi was sold for nearly LE800 million. Gamal Zahran, a leftist MP belonging to the Karama Party, directed an interpellation about what he called "the proliferation of corruption in local councils". The PA is also scheduled on Saturday to fix a timetable for a discussion of more than 40 questions on the impact of the global financial crisis on the Egyptian economy and exports. In the meantime, the PA's Proposals and Complaints Committee will begin Saturday discussing a new draft law aimed at regulating the trial of cabinet ministers suspected of illegal practices. If approved by the PA, the new 14- article bill, submitted by independent MP Alaa Abdel-Moneim, will replace an old law dating back to the 1958-1961 merger between Egypt and Syria. Asked why he authored the minister's trial bill, Abdel-Moneim told Al-Ahram Weekly that articles 159 and 160 of the constitution authorise the president of the republic as well as the PA to initiate the procedures necessary for bringing a cabinet minister to trial. He added that the law regulating the trial dates back to the Egypt-Syria merger. "It," said Abdel-Moneim, "provides for the establishment of a mixed Egyptian-Syrian court which has been impossible since the break-up of the merger [or what was called the United Arab Republic in 1961]." "It is unacceptable that the constitution would draw on a law that is not only suspended but also quite impossible to implement," argued Abdel-Moneim. The draft law is made up of 14 articles divided into three chapters dealing with the measures, guarantees and penalties related to the trial. The new bill does not restrict the right to take legal action against cabinet ministers to the president of the republic and the People's Assembly. Rather, said Abdel-Moneim, any public official or ordinary citizen has a right to report to prosecution authorities any case of corruption brought to his notice. Prosecution authorities should investigate the matter, then submit a report to the Supreme Court, recommending either that the case be shelved or trial procedures be started. The law states the court will be made up of three Court of Cassation judges. Abdel-Moneim said the grounds for impeaching a cabinet minister include acts in violation of state security, the constitution, intervening in elections and national referendums, and abuse of power. Abdel-Moneim said, "In the past we used to hear about undocumented accusations being levelled against former ministers once they leave office, die or abandon their personal careers." But this time, he added, "we were taken aback by an unexpected rash of accusations being levelled against ministers who come from a business background and use their positions to acquire personal privileges or further boost the business of their families." Abdel-Moneim and other independent MPs say the Nazif government includes many business tycoons who were made cabinet ministers in 2004 and 2006. Nazif, however, said prosecution authorities have always made sure that cabinet ministers do not abuse their power. The chances of the assembly approving Abdel-Moneim's bill are by no means high. The bill is very likely to be rejected by the majority of the ruling National Democratic Party.
