Al-Naba ': Saturday 17 / December / 2016 03:33

Mohamed Yousif

Partners for Transparency Association held a high-level expert meeting with the participation of a distinguished elite of members of the House of Representatives on the one hand and leaders of civil society organizations concerned with the issue of combating corruption on the other hand, a dialogue table under the title “Towards formulating a legislative agenda to combat corruption in light of Egypt's 2030 strategy .. Ideas And visions “, and an objective and constructive dialogue was conducted between the two parties on the legislative requirements and prioritizing the laws required to be implemented to enhance efforts to prevent and contain corruption.

Representative Magdy Malak, head of the Fact-Finding Committee for Corruption of Wheat Supplies, participated in the table, Representative Muhammad Abdullah Zain, the author of the proposed law to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission, Representative Manal Maher Al-Gamil, a member of the Parliament's Human Rights Committee, as well as from civil society organizations Yasser Abdel-Gawad, Director of the Office. Al-Arabi for Law, Shehata Muhammad Shehata, Director of the Arab Center for Integrity, Saeed Abdel-Hafez, President of the Dialogue Forum, Hani Ibrahim, President of the Mashreq Foundation for Development and Population, Ayman Aqil, President of the Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights, Abdel Nasser Kandil, Parliamentary Analyst, Hussein Metwally, a journalist specializing in issues Corruption.

The meeting discussed ideas and visions related to the package of legislation to be completed, and the attempt to prioritize these legislations, as well as the role assigned to each party in the process of harmonizing anti-corruption legislation and enhancing transparency with the requirements of implementing Egypt's 2030 sustainable development strategy.

Dr. Walaa Gad Al-Karim, Director General of Partners for Transparency, said at the beginning of the meeting that the meeting is gaining increasing importance in light of the continuous demands of civil society organizations for the need to develop the legal and institutional environment to combat corruption and achieve the goals of the Egypt 2030 strategy, and to support the efforts already made by some monitoring institutions and parliamentary mechanisms. As well as translating the political discourse that focuses on fighting corruption into specific procedures and practices based on a deterrent and adequate package of laws.

He continued: “The parliamentary agenda is burdened with a huge set of legislation that needs to be completed in order to fulfill the constitutional entitlements and urgent developmental needs. Therefore, providing a platform for continuous and effective dialogue between civil society and parliament could lead to pushing for anti-corruption legislation in the priority of arranging the parliamentary agenda during the next stage.” .

For their part, the deputies expressed the importance of the meeting because it provides an opportunity to communicate directly with representatives of civil society organizations that have long experience in legislative reform issues to combat corruption, and they agreed that there is already a big crisis in the current legislation, and this legislation may be the main cause of corruption. The rates of development and the complexity of the investment environment decreased, indicating that the laws on information circulation and the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses may be discussed soon, while there are proposals for laws to establish a national anti-corruption body that will be discussed in the proposals and complaints committee.

Civil society representatives stressed the importance of bridging the current legislative void by expediting the adoption of the two laws on information circulation and the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses, and at the same time making radical amendments to the articles of the penal code related to waste of public money and bribery, and considered these amendments a legislative priority for any serious efforts in anti-Corruption .

Representatives of parliament and the leaders of civil work participating have confirmed the request of the Partners for Transparency Foundation to organize another series of dialogue sessions between members of Parliament and civil society within the framework of the same issue, and the deputies declared their full welcome for any legislative proposals that will be presented through civil society organizations.