Parliament Diaries| In loud times, water reform trickles in silence

The law regulating the public water utility slipped quietly through Parliament, overshadowed by a week jammed with headline-grabbing legislations of the electoral law and the contentious old rent law, given their sweeping effects on the structure of governance and the daily lives of millions.

Despite its deep economic and social implications, it passed with little fanfare, discussion, or even attention. But the quiet greenlighting of private sector entry into a vital service like drinking water could reshape how the service is delivered in the coming years.

While the electoral law file was closed with disregard for all opposition demands, and the old rent law remained suspended in rounds of hearings without resolution, the water utility bill slipped through without any serious, wide-ranging debate centered on the public interest.

What changed in the election laws?

The amendments proposed by majority leader Abdel Hadi El-Qasabi and backed by over a tenth of MPs, mainly from the Republican People’s Party, Homeland Defenders Party, and the Coordination Committee of Parties’ Youth Leaders and Politicians (CPYP), maintained the mixed electoral system. Closed-list proportional representation alongside individual candidacies.

Despite being rejected in principle by five MPs during deliberations, the amendments did not alter the number of parliamentary seats: 284 for the list system and 284 for individual races. The president retained the right to appoint up to 28 more, capped at 5% of the total.

The Senate structure remained untouched: 300 members, with 100 elected via individual races, 100 via closed lists, and 100 appointed by the president.

What did change was the reallocation of some seats in both the list and individual districts for the House and Senate. According to El-Qasabi, the revision aimed to ensure fairer representation following a population increase of more than six million voters.

Zero for everyone

Debate flared over how the amendments sidestepped the National Dialogue’s recommendations, buoyed by pro-government MPs at the expense of opposition priorities.

The opposition accused the ruling majority and government of outright ignoring the Dialogue’s proposals. The government, for its part, defended its position.

The opposition failed to submit a concrete draft law proposing an alternative. While it presented ideas during the National Dialogue, it made no move within Parliament to build support or advance its vision. They opted to wait it out, only to now express outrage, as though blindsided by the very continuity they helped enable.

Mahmoud Fawzy, Minister of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, argued that the Dialogue’s final output included three different scenarios, one of which was to maintain the existing system, so there was no single agreed recommendation.

But MPs Diaa Eldin Daood and Ahmed El-Sharkawy countered that the core aim of the Dialogue was to define national priorities for the coming stage, as President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi had stated when he called for it in April 2022.

Yet after months of lofty discussions and meaningful recommendations, the Dialogue lost its momentum. Its role shrank into selective meetings about regional affairs and national security.

The opposition, having failed to turn its ideas into a draft legislation or rally support, now watches from the sidelines while warning of political stagnation as though taken aback by the rules of the game.

The majority, unsurprisingly, has little incentive to surrender its gains or offer a more proportional structure that would allow opposition a chance. Especially when the government is maintaining a façade of neutrality.

So the result? Everyone remains stuck in the loop, the same game with the same old rules. The majority may imagine this a victory—but the truth is there are no winners.

Old rent law: the wait continues

Every time I attend one of the hearings on the old rent law, I’m reminded of how the National Dialogue began with high hopes, then fizzled into talk sessions.

This past week, a joint parliamentary committee held two public hearings and both added nothing new. No fresh proposals, no breakthroughs. It increasingly feels like the goal is simply to kill time until a new draft law is passed, perhaps after Eid al-Adha.

Notably absent from one hearing was Lawyers Syndicate President Abdel Halim Allam, who skipped without apology despite previously promising a new legal vision on the matter.

At Sunday night’s session, the governors of Alexandria, Cairo, Giza, and Qalyoubia—home to about 82% of old-rent units—attended. They shared figures from the last census conducted by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics in 2017, once again spotlighting the lack of up-to-date data on those affected.

At Monday’s hearing, the heads of the Doctors and Engineers Syndicates, along with representatives from the Pharmacists Syndicate, all opposed phasing out old rent contracts over five years. They warned that such a move could ignite social unrest and undermine both the right to housing and the private sector’s stability, especially in medicine and engineering fields.

The future of drinking water

Still, the legislative gridlock did not stop Parliament from passing the Public Drinking Water and Wastewater Utility Regulation Act.

Discussion began Sunday, just hours after fierce political debates over the election laws. Compared to those headline items, the water bill seemed to occupy a lower tier of importance.

Even I must admit I was caught in that lull. I forgot to record the names of the two MPs who objected to the bill. But a few MPs did seize the moment to raise concerns about water quality and supply issues in their districts.

The bill aims to broaden the private sector's role in this vital service, allowing it to construct, operate, maintain, and finance water and sanitation infrastructure. It also grants private sector representation on the board of the Regulatory Authority for Drinking Water and Wastewater Services.

One of the Authority’s responsibilities will be to develop the economic framework for setting service tariffs. These will be presented to the cabinet by the competent minister and publicly announced through the Authority.

Here lies the core concern—one that opposition MPs didn’t articulate in their brief statements. While expanded private sector involvement could improve service efficiency and technology adoption, it might also lead to revised pricing structures, pushing more financial strain onto citizens. This, despite repeated reassurances from Housing Committee Chair Mohamed Attia Elfayoumi that household budgets will not be affected.

Between reform and neglect

In the din of electoral amendments likely to reproduce a Parliament much like the current one, the water utility bill offers a sobering glimpse into Parliament’s priorities, perhaps the media’s as well.

This lack of attention reveals a deeper crisis of political priorities. Doors are shut to meaningful discussions about the future of public services. Chances to shape responsible private sector partnerships vanish. And it is the ordinary citizen who loses, caught between rising costs and declining service quality.