Egypt's new parliament endorsed a law that sets the annual salary and rewards of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi at a ceiling of $63,000 or around LE500,000, after MP's who were given the floor said his salary is among the lowest of world leaders and presidents. The law (no.73/2014) was one of nine that were approved by parliament – the House of Representatives – during its morning session on Sunday. Independent MP Osama Sharshar said "let us, for example, compare El-Sisi's annual rewards to US President Barak Obama's." "While El-Sisi receives a total of $63,000 per year, we see that Barack Obama is receiving $480,000," said Sharshar, adding that "an amount of $63,000 is equal to LE500,000 per year and this is a very low salary." The decree was endorsed by more than 400 MPs and it is the first time for Egypt's parliament to announce the annual salary of the president of the republic. During the 30-year reign of former president Hosni Mubarak, the salary of his office was never discussed or disclosed. When El-Sisi took office in June 2014, he said that he would cut his monthly salary in half, or from LE48,000 to LE24,000. "I do not need this big monthly salary," El-Sisi said. The law indicates that the annual salary and other rewards would reach a total of $63,000. During the parliament's morning sitting, it approved nine presidential decrees – among a total of 341 – that were passed following the removal of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from office in July 2013, in accordance with article 156 of the new constitution. Decrees that were issued by interim president Adly Mansour and incumbent president El-Sisi in the absence of a parliament must be reviewed and discussed within 15 days – or by 25 January – of its first session. The nine laws addressed issues such as regulating presidential elections, military justice, prisons, the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC), as well as fighting anti-money laundering activities, and putting a ceiling on the annual salary of the president of the republic. The parliament's speaker Ali Abdel-Al said political laws, including ones on parliamentary elections such as regulating the exercise of political rights, the House of Representatives, and the Division of Electoral Constituencies would be debated later, as these form what are called "the constitution-complement laws." "These laws are of utmost importance and they should be discussed in special sittings because a significant number of MPs want to discuss them," Abdel-Al said. source: Ahram Online
