The Minister of Legal Affairs and Parliamentary Councils Mufid Shehab admitted that the government intervenes in the activities of the People's Assembly and the Shoura Council [the lower and upper chambers of Egypt's parliament]. Such an intervention is attributed to the recent constitutional amendments, the most of which were modeled on the US presidential system, which is among the best ones in the world. Any state can not enjoy democracy without adopting the principle of separation between legislative, judicial and executive authorities. If the three authorities are controlled by a single body, a state lives under despotism and dictatorship, Shehab added. During his meeting with members of the People's Assembly, the Shura Council and the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), Shehab said the People's Assembly members were very happy when the government entrusted them with drawing up the state budget. However, when they failed to secure resources needed for subsidies, they left the task to the government. Some 90% of the laws referred to the People's Assembly are filled by the government rather than MPs. This means that the government is acquainted with people's problems and ambitions, Shehab said, accusing the opposition and independent MPs of lying in wait for the government performance to embarrass the ministers and condemn their work. Defending his job as a member of the government, Shehab said: "MPs accuse me of being the government lawyer, but I am not. My task is to mediate between the government and the People's Assembly, which I always fear because of parliamentary accountability." "I only record MPs' objections to the government performance and defend the bills submitted by the government. I am the only representative of the government, although I asked the other ministers to be present in order to answer MPs' questions " he said, adding that their absence creates a gap between them and the MPs. Shehab criticized the idea of centralization saying: "Unfortunately, centralization has been controlling work in Egypt since the year dot, as everything is concentrated in Cairo. " He called for more competences to be given to local administrations in order to put an end to centralization. He also called for governors and ministers to be equally accountable before parliament. This will take a long time and we will not be able to submit the new bill on the local administration in the current parliamentary session, as it would overlap with many of the other 27 bills, he said. The government will not allow pirates to keep on posing direct threats to our interests, Shehab said, adding: "We will use force if the need arises. Movement in the Suez Canal has not been negatively affected. " He disclosed some measures taken by the government and countries overlooking the Red Sea to combat piracy.
