The government has a leading role in shaping the agenda of the houses of Parliament. It may propose laws to Parliament, as well as amendments during parliamentary meetings. It may make use of some procedures to speed up parliamentary deliberations. The government is responsible only to Parliament, specifically the House of Representatives.
The House of Representatives may pass a motion of censure, forcing the resignation of the cabinet. Ministers have to answer questions from Members of Parliament, both written and oral; this is known as Inquiries to the Government Talebat Ihata.
In addition, ministers attend meetings of the two houses of Parliament when laws pertaining to their areas of responsibility are being discussed.
The details of the cabinet's organisation are set down in articles 153 to 160 of the constitution. Article 155 states that the members of the cabinet have to be sworn in when taking office.
Functions
The Cabinet shall exercise in particularly the following functions:
Helps in setting up the general policy of the State in collaboration with the President of the Republic and controlling its implementation in accordance with the laws and republican decrees.
Directing, co-ordinating and following up the work of the ministries and their different administrations as well as public organizations and institutions.
Issuing administrative and executive decisions in accordance with the laws and decrees and supervising their implementation.
Preparing draft laws and decrees.
Preparing the draft of the general budget of the State.
Preparing the draft of the State's overall plan.
Contracting and granting loans in accordance with the rules of the Constitution.
Supervising the implementation of law, maintaining State security and protecting the rights of the citizens and the interests of the State.
Ministerial seniority and rank
Traditionally, the cabinet comprises, in decreasing rank:
The Prime Minister, Head of the Egyptian government.
Deputy Prime Minister(s), historically one or more, mostly in addition to a ministry portfolio.
Ministers, Full Cabinet members. Currently there are 32 full ministers in this government.
Ministers of State, described as ‘junior ministers’, are assigned specific responsibilities or agencies. The portfolios of ministers of state are considerably more transient, as positions may be created and dissolved to suit specific short-term government priorities or the specific qualifications of candidates without alterations to the departmental structure, e.g. the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs.
Ministers without portfolio, ministers who do not head specific departments and occasionally attend cabinet meetings, e.g. former Minister without portfolio Omar Suleiman, the former Vice President of Egypt.
Chairmen of Departments, who head certain important departments that do not fall under the jurisdiction of any of the ministers and answer directly to the Prime Minister or the President of the Republic, e.g. The Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority and the Chairman of the State Information Service.
Ministers-Delegate, who assist ministers in areas of their duties and rarely attend cabinet meeting.
Ministerial criteria
The following eligibility conditions must be met constitutionally by all ministers.
At least 30 years old natural-born Egyptian citizen, enjoying full civil and political rights.
A minister may not work in any independent work, commercial, financial or industrial while in office.
Recent history
The interim cabinet of Essam Sharaf was sworn in on Monday 7 March 2011 by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces & Minister of Defense.[1] In July 2011, Sharaf fired several ministers although the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) said he didn't have that power.[2] On 21 November 2011, the entire Cabinet offered to resign in the face of the second wave of protests.[3] On 24 November 2011, Egypt's military rulers appointed former prime minister Kamal Ganzouri to form a new government.[4] His government resigned on 26 June 2012 after the election of Mohamed Morsi as President of Egypt to make way for the new government.
Current Cabinet
The cabinet of Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail was sworn in on 19 September 2015.[5] On June 5, 2018, every member of the Egyptian Cabinet submitted their letter of resignation, but would remain in caretaker capacity until a new cabinet is appointed.[6] On June 7, 2018, the Minister of Housing and Urban Utilities Mostafa Madbouly was appointed to succeed Ismail.[7] It was also reported the new government had dropped eight cabinet Ministers, including Minister of Antiquities Khaled Al-Anany, Minister of Manpower Mohamed Saafan, Minister of Irrigation Mohamed Abdel Aty, Minister of Health Ahmed Emaddin, Minister of Agriculture Abdel Moniem al-Banna, and Minister of Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffa.[8] The proposed Cabinet has been accepted by the Egyptian Parliament.[9] The final list of candidates for ministerial posts in the Madbouly government was published on June 10, 2018, and includes Assem El-Gazar as minister of housing; Hala Zayed as minister of health; Yasmeen Fouad as minister of environment; Mohamed Eissa as minister of manpower; Amr Nassar as minister of trade and industry; Magdy Abo El-Ela as minister of justice, Hala El-Khatib or Ashraf Sobhy as minister of youth and sports; Mahmoud Shaarawy as minister of state for local development; and Mohamed Moiet as new minister of finance.[10] Eight women will serve as ministers of investment, planning, health, environment, social solidarity, immigration, tourism, and culture and the following ministers of Ismail's cabinet will remain in their positions: the ministers of petroleum, transportation, education, higher education, foreign affairs, interior, defence, military production, tourism, and parliamentary affairs[10]
On June 13, it was reported that Madbouly had selected 13 to 16 deputy ministers and that the new government would be sworn in on June 14.[11] On June 14, a new government consisting of 12 new ministers and 15 new deputy ministers was sworn in by Sisi.[12] Madbouly was also sworn in as Prime Minister[13] and will retain his role as Housing Minister as well.[12] It was reported that his government would issue its policy statement on June 23.[14][15][16][17] but parliamentary spokesman Salah Hassaballah later confirmed this to be incorrect.[18] On June 23, Hassaballah stated that while no date was now scheduled to present the policy statement before Parliament, he expected the Madbouly government to present it in the next week and that the government was unable to prepare it in time for the planned date.[18] Madbouly delivered his policy statement before the parliament on July 3.[19] The House of Representatives, the only legislative body in Egypt's unicameral parliament,[20] afterwards referred the matter to a special committee chaired by first deputy speaker Al-Sayed Al-Sherif,[21] which completed its review of the statement recommended a vote of confidence.[21] Following weeks of debate, the House approved Madbouly's Cabinet in a vote of confidence on July 25.[22][23]
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