Major-General Mamdouh Shain, legal advisor to the Egyptian defense minister, called on Thursday for a special status for the armed forces in the new constitution, exempting it from being at the “discretion” of the president, as he put it.
At the second session of the National Accord Conference on Thursday, Shahin explained that the old constitution described the military as the protector of legitimacy, reporting to the president.
“But the new constitutional amendments say the army protects the people, which is what we did during the revolution,” he said.
He also recommended that military matters should not be discussed in parliament due to their secret nature.
“In the United States and Turkey army matters are not discussed publicly,” he said.
In a related development, former Minister of Social Affairs Mervat al-Talawy called for limits to be placed on the power of the president over the army.
“We need an army that supervises those who have power, and not the other way round,” she said. Mohamed al-Gawady, a historian, said that the military should be granted full independence, like the judiciary.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
