MB MPs excellent performance in the Egyptian Parliament

According to a number of criteria the members of parliament performance is evaluated; these include:

1. The extent of use of the parliamentary monitoring methods such as inquiries, interrogations, submitting of questions and proposes of draft laws.

2. The Brotherhood’s keenness to attend the people’s assemblies meetings and participation and interaction with controversial discussions.

3. The extent of interaction with the parliament’s supervisory and legislative role.

4. The degree of interaction with national issues.

5. The  attention given  to raise and discuss the  country’s foreign issues with common concern to the Arab and Muslim world such as the continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people;  the American occupation of Iraq, France’s banning of  Muslim women from wearing the headscarf and other issues.

6. The active contribution and participation   in the development of parliament and the use of modern technology in facilitating the deputy’s work.

The supervisory roles and responsibilities of members of the Muslim Brotherhood Parliamentary bloc:

During the PA’s second session members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc touched on all cases submitting numerous requests and interrogations under the parliamentary dome forcing the government to discuss various avoided discussions so as not to expose its order:

The MB MPs submitted approximately;

– 120 questionings both written and oral in the current 2006-2007 session

– 65 questions during those sessions were put forward in public debates.

 – 28 questionings

 – 14 interrogations

–  61 request for

– 18 submittings

The Brotherhood members have participated in more than 50% of the total questions submitted to parliament during the last parliamentary session despite them holding only 25% of the total number of seats, the majority belonging to the NDP party. Of the 65 submitted questions, 18 by the MB only 14 were discussed. This reflects the outstanding participation of the Brotherhood’s bloc during the 2006- 2007 and its leading role in enriching the parliaments’ discussions which has forced government to improve its performance in many areas for fear of entering into any confrontation with the Brotherhood members.

Brief details on a number of interrogations and requests which were submitted by the Brotherhood deputies include:

1) Three questions submitted by Abdullah Elewa, Azab Mostafa and Bahaa el-Deen Attia concerning water pollution.

2) Three questions by Mohammed Al-Beltagy, Saad Khalifa and Hamdi Hassan on victims of the ferry disaster.

3) Four questions by Akram Al-Shaer, Ibrahim Abu Ouf, and Ahmed Abu Baraka and Ibrahim al-Jaafari on unemployment.

4) Two questions by Akram Al-Shaer and Farid Ismail on poor health conditions leading to the increase in liver patients.

5) Two questions filed by Azab Mustafa and Ibrahim al-Jaafari concerning the squandering of public money in many privatization projects.

The requests varied in terms of issues as it dealt with the government’s corruptions which marred most government, ministries and bodies Requests were submitted on the deteriorating conditions of Egypt’s education sector, the poor performance of the state’s administrative and economic sectors and also issues of environmental pollution, drinking water, anti-corruption, anti-monopolies and wasting of Al-Azhar and Ministry of Awqaf funds.

They tackled the protection of Islamic themes, values and morals, Egypt’s transportation problems, violations of State Security, and the need to increase the salaries of state government employees.

                   Impeding of the democratic process and serious human rights violations are still committed by State security services.

 Mohamed El-Beltagy submitted questions concerning security breaches in the Egyptian universities and the prevention of students from freely choosing their representatives and participating in student activities.

Saad al-Husseini questioned the poor professional performance of the police and the serious violations of human rights.

 Dr. Hamdi Hassan questioned the prime minister for abuses during the referendum on government-backed constitutional amendments.

 Mostafa Mohamed Mostafa questioned the manipulation of the election results of the trade-union and labor committees and the board of directors of public sector companies.

 Mahmoud Amer submitted a question about the extreme violations of human rights

 Hussein Ibrahim questioned the Interior Ministry’s abuses of convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Dr. Ahmed Abu Baraka questioned the Interior Ministry’s escalating   use of the Emergency Law and the torture and abuses committed in police stations and the SS headquarters.

Azab Mustafa questioned the possibility of live broadcasting of parliamentary sessions on public television.

Mahmoud Amer questioned the increase of cement prices

Dr. Hamdi Ismail questioned the ministers of health and local development on the waste of public money

 Akram Al-Shaer questioned the People’s Assembly Speaker and the Ministers of Health and Higher Education on financial, administrative and technical irregularities in the Department of Neurosurgery, Kasr El Aini Hospital.

 Hamdi Ismail issued a question about the seizing of public funds in Ismailia’s Directorate of Health Affairs.
Ragab Abu Zeid questions irregularities in the report by the Central Auditing Agency.
 Akram Al-Shaer issued a question for the government’s inactive response to eradicate corruption.

Saad Husseini questioned the monopolistic practices in the cement market.

 Ahmed Al-Khawlany questioned the negative economic effects of the signing of Egyptian-Israeli QIZ Agreement
 Essam Mokhtar questioned the government’s paying of one billion Egyptian pounds to depositors in the fund management companies including Sharif, al-Sa`d, al-Huda as a promise taken by Dr. Atef Ebeid to pay larger sums in March 2005.

MP Saad al-Husseini questioned the corruption’ within the Ministry of Housing about the sale and public land allocation leading and the missing of 59 billion pounds to the State Treasury.
 Akram Al-Shaer questioned the loss of benefits that were a result of a memorandum of understanding between Egypt and the Sierra Leone.

II.                Stat’s administrative and economic poor performance
 Mostafa Mohamed Mostafa question the government about waste of public money in the renovation of Alexandria’s health units

 Abbas Abd al-Aziz questioned the losses in public enterprises.

 Azab Mustafa questioned the wasting of public money in the Abu Tartur Phosphate Project.

 Sabri Khalaf Allah’s questioned the prime minister. Minister of state for economic development, communications and information technology, Investment, Trade and Industry on the discontinuation in the Technology Valley Project, which led to the waste of nearly fifty million pounds.
 Ahmed Abu Baraka questioned the deteriorating performance of the government, its institutions and public facilities.

 Ahmed Abu Baraka questioned the government’s failure to tackle the high public debt problem.
 Akram Al-Shaer questioned the government’s negligence of the East Port Said project and the need to accelerate the project.

Sabri Amer questioned the government’s neglect on the national project for the development of Sinai (1994-2017)

 Abbas Abd al-Aziz Abbas submitted a question to the Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation of Egypt for wasting billions of pounds in the General Authority for Rehabilitation Projects and Agricultural Development (GARPAD)
Mahmoud Amer  submitted a question to the Prime Minister and Minister of Manpower of  the government’s waste of public money at the Labor University

 Akram al-Shaer to discuss the deterioration of the conditions of al-Buhayrat

Yousri Bayoumi and 20 other lawmakers questioned the write-off of the Contracting Co from the construction records for its inability to meet its financial obligations and the negative effects of tariff reduction upon the Egyptian industry
Sabri Amer and 20 other legislators questioned the criteria for appointment in the diplomatic corps, the judiciary and the police Academy

 Ibrahim al-Jaafari and twenty others questioned the report of the 2007 census

IV.            Seizure of State Social Insurance Fund

Four members of the Muslim Brotherhood Parliamentary bloc namely, Sabri Khalaf Allah, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Azab Mostafa and Farid Ismail submitted four interrogations about the government’s attempts to takeover the State insurance funds to trim deficit in the general budget.

V.               Low-wage workers and high prices
A request was submitted for open discussion by deputies Hussein Ibrahim and Sri Bayoumi, and 20 other deputies on low wages of employees.

A request was submitted by Akram Al-Shaer about the continued increase in prices.

VI.            Combat unemployment

Four questions have been submitted concerning unemployment and its negative effects, the government attempts to curb the spread of unemployment by Akram Shaer, Ibrahim Abu Ouf, Ahmad Abu Baraka and Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

VII.         Maintenance of Islamic Ethics and Moral Values

A question presented by Ahmed Abu Baraka on the violation of the provisions of the Egyptian Constitution by the Culture Minister, who made statements to Al Masri Al Youm (The Egyptian Today) on wearing of the higab.

VIII.      The need to defend Al-Azhar’s sanctuaries and the protection of endowment funds

 A question was submitted by Ali Ahmed Laban about the gradual loss of religious duties in clear violation of the Constitution and the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision No. 1506 of 2006 to annex Emad al-Islam mosque in Al-Ataba, Cairo under the pretext of replacement by a temporary warehouses for the benefit of Ministry of Transport

 A question submitted by Ali Ahmed Laban on the legal and financial irregularities committed against the Islamic endowments.
 Sayyed Askar submitted a question about the government’s attempts to dissolve and shutdown Al-Azhar Al-Sharif bodies

 Ahmed Abu Baraka questioned the numerous malicious attempts of some against Al-Azhar institutes

Yehia Al-Mesiri questioned the attempts to dismantle Al-Azhar institutions.

IX.            Rights of People with Special Needs

 Request for an open debate by Sabri Amer and twenty others on the government’s attitude towards the disabled and those with special needs.

X.               The need to focus on social phenomena and try to address the negative impacts

 The Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit

A request was submitted by Bahaa El-Deen Sayyed Attia and twenty others on the prevalence of customary marriage among young people

A request submitted was by Saber Abu Al-Fotouh and twenty others on drug trafficking and illicit drug use in the streets and public squares

 A request was submitted by Adel Hamed and twenty other deputies on the phenomenon of street children

 A request was submitted by Abdel Aziz al-Khalaf and twenty others on the phenomenon of street children.

XI.            Questions Filed on Education

A question was submitted by Abdel-Wahab El-Deeb to the Minister of Education over the severe neglect and collapse of the educational system and the administrative and financial corruption

 A question was submitted by Mahmoud Amer to the Prime Minister and Minister of Manpower on the government complacent, waste of public money at the Labor University which lead to the sharp rise in the income of Workers University Director, who has not obtained his degree of professorship yet as well as it remains silent on very low level of scientific and technical knowledge for students. It demonstrates inferiority of the college and university graduates culture.

XII.         Public Health

 A question was submitted by Ibrahim Abu Ouf on carcinogenic wheat

 Two questions were submitted by Akram Al-Shaer and Farid Ismail on poor health conditions and the spread of liver disease

 A question was submitted by Mustafa Mohamed to the Minister of Health about the lack of health services at health care clinics and the lack of provision of medical services and the waste of public funds in the replacement and renovation of health units at John’s farm and Ezbat Khurshid, al Muntazah, Alexandria

A question was submitted by Yahya Elmessiri to the Ministers of Health and the Interior on the prevalence of trafficking in imitation medicines sold in pharmacies

Yousri Bayoumi and other twenty deputies questioned the severe shortage of medical practioners and its impact on criminal cases

A request was submitted by Ibrahim al-Jaafari and twenty others on the conflicting results between the Ministry of Agriculture and Health on the examination of imported food shipments

A request was submitted for a public debate by Saad Al-Husseini on the government’s desire to make health insurance a holding company

 A request was submitted by Yahya Elmessiri on a medical fraud case

 A request was submitted by Akram al-Shaer on the increase of congenital heart defects in newborns.

XIII.      Transport and Road Accidents

 A question was submitted by Akram Al-Shaer on the deterioration of the railway system

An interrogation was submitted by Abdul Aziz Khalaf on the increase of road accidents

 Bahaa El Din Sayyed Attia questioned the increase of road accidents in all the governorates of Egypt, especially Cairo-Assiut Desert Road

 Three questions were submitted by Mohamed Beltagy, Saad Khalifa and Hamdy Hassan on the disaster of Rashid’s Ferries

 A question was submitted by Yasser Hammoud on the disintegrating of Egypt’s national railway system and the frequent train accidents which endangered hundreds of citizens in the recent period

 A question was submitted by Ibrahim al-Jaafari on the corruption and mismanagement of the Suez Canal Authority in recent times

A request for open debate by Mohamed Mostafa Al-Adly on the collapse of Gharbia internal transport

 A request was submitted by Abdul Aziz Khalaf on the lack of illumination across the Cairo-Assiut Desert road

XIV.     Agriculture

A request was submitted by Akram Al-Shaer and another twenty deputies on a plan to increase acreage of wheat

A request was submitted by Ibrahim al-Jaafari and twenty other deputies on the settlement of farmers’ debt to the Principal Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit

XV.        Protection of the environment and drinking water sources from pollution

A question made by Abdullah Elewa on the pollution of air, environment and drinking water

 Maher Aql questioned the termination of the garbage recycling factories

 Azab Mustafa questioned the government’s inability in reducing Nile water pollution

A question was submitted by Bahaa El-Deen Sayyed Attia on contamination of drinking water

 A question was submitted by Hussein Al Shura on Kafr El-Zayat facing an environmental disaster due to contamination of the Nile’s water

Second: The legislative performance

The Muslim Brotherhood bloc’s members presented 15 draft laws out of the total 33 bills and 94 proposals were discussed by the People’s Assembly; the following are the most significant draft laws:

–         Draft Law for the Protection of the environment.

–         Draft law for Egyptian additional financial benefits for teachers.

–         Draft Law on State Investment.

–         Draft law on the referral to military tribunals.

–         Draft law for pharmacists.

–         Draft law for additional financial benefits for doctors.

–         Draft law on Code of Criminal Procedure.

–         Bill on socially and health rehabilitation for the disabled.

–         Draft law on Judicial Authority.

–         Draft law on property rights.

–         Draft law on establishment of political parties.

–         Draft law on farm animals.

–         Draft law on Economic Courts- Dr. Hamdi Hassan.

–         Draft law on Al-Azhar- Dr. Ali Laban.

–         Draft Law on Election of Grand Sheikh al-Azhar- Ali Laban.

–         Draft law on amending the Code of Civil Procedure- Hussein Ibrahim.

–         Draft law on the establishment of farmers Syndicate- Ali Laban.

–         Draft law on restoring all the endowments of Al- Azhar- Ali Laban.

–         Draft law on Dentistry- Dr. Hazem Farouk.

–         Draft law for the abolition of provisional detention- Hussein Mohamed.

–         Draft law for regulating political parties- Hussein Mohamed.

–         Draft law on the judicial experience- Ahmed Abu Baraka.

–         Draft law for qualifying the incapacitated-Ahmed Abu Baraka.

–         Draft Law on banning imprisonment of journalists- Mohsen Radi.

–         Draft law on the amendment of garbage fees- Engineer Saad Al-Husseini and Mohamed Casaba.

–         Draft law on raising the minimum rate for social security pension- Saad al-Husseini and Mohamed Casaba.

–         Draft law on amending articles of urban planning laws by Sheikh Sayed `Askar.

–         Draft law amending the law of military tribunals – Hussein Ibrahim.
– Draft law on amending the articles 126, 129 of the Penal Code- Hussein Mohamed Ibrahim.

–         Draft law on the postponement the capital punishment of pregnant mothers- MP Mohsen Radi

–         Draft law on the judicial expert- Ibrahim Zakaria Younis

–         Amendment of commercial and Civil Procedure code- unanimously “agreed upon” by MPs