Critics warn new bill places Future of Egypt above the government

Speaking in a seminar organized by the Socialist Popular Alliance Party on Monday, MP Mohamed Fouad, who leads the liberal Justice Party’s parliamentary bloc, called for amendments to a new bill reorganizing the Future of Egypt Authority for Sustainable Development.

The call comes after Egypt’s House of Representatives gave final approval to the government bill on July 14 and referred it to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for ratification.

The MP was not the only critic, as Cairo University political science professor Mostafa Kamel Al-Sayed said the proposed powers would place the authority “above the government.”

According to the government, the bill would turn Future of Egypt, which is chaired by Air Force Col. Bahaa El-Ghannam, into a special-status economic authority reporting directly to the president, granting it broad powers to manage state assets and establish sustainable development zones. It would also create two funds, Nile Pyramids and Daem (Support), to “accelerate national projects and expand partnerships with the private sector.”

Fouad presented a chart showing the agency’s proposed structure: a board of directors, sustainable development zones, a sovereign fund and a service fund, and said that this design broadened the agency’s remit enough to warrant reviewing several provisions.

He added that the bill raised several problems, including the number of economic entities under the agency, the different funds it would control, the relationship between risk and return and the absence of social insurance obligations.

He also criticized the extensive powers assigned to sustainable development zones, which the president could establish by decree. Other concerns included the agency’s unclear internal organisation, the failure to separate its different roles and the lack of an independent grievance mechanism.

Fouad said he had submitted a memorandum to the House of Representatives proposing amendments to the bill, but it was rejected.

His proposals included setting clearer rules for establishing the agency, regulating accreditation offices, creating an executive board for each fund and introducing a mechanism to settle disputes between the founding authority and executive bodies. Fouad said these measures would “reduce institutional friction” within Future of Egypt.

He stressed that the Justice Party had approved the bill in principle but believed several provisions needed amending to clarify the agency’s legal and organisational framework.

Al-Sayed, meanwhile, warned against the broad powers granted to the authority, arguing that the land mass placed under its jurisdiction demonstrated how extensive its remit would be, he said.

Under the bill, the Future of Egypt would enjoy financial, administrative and technical autonomy. Al-Sayed said this would insulate it from ordinary financial, administrative and technical oversight, turning it into “an authority above the government”

He questioned whether such sweeping powers would achieve the stated development objectives, pointing to the absence of data that would allow specialists to assess the authority’s prospects of success or failure.

The political science professor added that the agency would compete with private businesses and could monopolize some economic activities. Transferring military-owned businesses such as Safi, Wataniya and ChillOut from the Egyptian Armed Forces to Future of Egypt would not necessarily alter their relationship with the state.

Al-Sayed said the agency’s remit overlapped with that of several ministries and could replace them in some areas, citing the agriculture and irrigation ministries, and questioning which institution would ultimately be responsible for their functions.

Although the bill places the agency under the president and prime minister, Al-Sayed said it had not been discussed by the cabinet. Ministry representatives would be entitled to attend its meetings but would have no vote on its decisions, he added.

Al-Sayed said he did not oppose the armed forces playing an economic role in weapons production and strengthening defense capabilities. But the expansion of military economic activity beyond those areas raised questions that warranted debate about Egypt’s economic management structure and the state’s role in the market, he said.