Egypt s parliament approved amendments of the law regulating the performance of the Administrative Watchdog Authority (AWA) on Monday.
The law, approved by parliament s legislative and constitutional affairs committee on Sunday, aims to amend AWA s law (law no.54/1964) to go in line with Egypt s 2014 constitution and to reinforce its role in combating corruption.
Bahaaeddin Abu Shokka, the head of the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee, told MPs that the draft amendments were revised by the State Council s Department of Legislation.
"This revision was necessary to ensure that the draft amendments go in line with the constitution," said Abu Shokka, adding that "it is high time for this draft law to be passed in order to step up the war against corruption in government and administrative circles," Shokka said.
A report prepared by the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee said the draft law seeks to amend five articles.
"Article one states that AWA is a supervisory authority which is affiliated with the president of the republic in line with article 214 of the constitution, having administrative, technical, and financial independence," Shokka explained.
The report also indicated that article five of the law will be amended to oblige AWA to submit an annual report to the president of the republic, parliament, and cabinet.
"This goes in line with article 217 of the constitution, which also states that AWA s report should cover its performance in a year in terms of fighting all forms of corruption and graft and submit recommendations in this field," said the report.
The report added that the new law obliges AWA to coordinate with other watchdog institutions such as the Central Auditing Agency to forge a new anti-corruption strategy and improve the values of transparency and integrity in line with article 218 of the constitution.
The report said the amendments give the president of the republic the right to name AWA s chairman, deputy chairman and board members only after parliament s approval and in line with article 216 of the constitution.
Abu Shokka said the AWA has uncovered a number of high-profile corruption cases in recent years.
"The amendments give AWA more powers to tighten control on corruption and help the government s 2014 National Anti-Corruption Committee fight nepotism and reinforce accountability in government circles," said Abu Shokka, adding that "we hope AWA exercising a more active role in combating graft will help improve Egypt s position on Transparency International s Perceptions of Corruption Index."
