Judge Introduces Bill to Deal with Debt-Saddled People

By Ali Abu Dashesh

It was a unique event in the judiciary and parliamentarian history in Egypt.

Chancellor  Sameh Abdel Hakam, has introduced a bill using his legal talents to find a solution to a crisis threatening society.

He is the first judge who has submitted the bill to the House of Representatives (HoR) directly.

He is seeking to address people to take their responsibility in protecting some vulnerable categories in society.

Chancellor Abdel Hakam is a unique figure, proving that some judges work in silence and acquire the legal subtlety. Those judges go through all phenomena in their society but do not speak very much in public.

They prefer to sit to the bench at courtroom as their first option. Contributing positively to the motherland and its people is their main objective all the time.

The bill  suggests solution to the problem of the debt-saddled people dated back to October 31, 2017 when “Al Ahram” daily published a study written  by Chancellor Abdel Hakam, President of the  Court of Appeal about developing modern criminal policy and the international tendency to introduce alternative penalties instead of  imprisonment.

He hopes to apply this doctrine to cases of the debt-saddled people or those people who could not meet their debts due to financial hardships.

The genesis of this bill

“Misr El Khair” charity foundation contacted Chancellor Abdel Hakam. It announced its support to suggestions made by the chancellor. Officials of the foundation asked him if he could extend his study and he responded positively through   his page on Facebook.

He declared that he is about to introduce a bill voluntarily for God’s sake to solve problems of the debt-saddled people in Egypt. He went through number of legal literature in some Arab and European countries that succeeded in treating problems of the debt-saddled people successfully.

After drafting the bill, Chancellor Abdel Hakam presented it to the National Council for Women (NCW) to apply alternative penalties instead of imprisonment to the simple crimes which did not conclude felonies.

The bill was welcomed the bill and endorsed it anonymously by members of the council in a meeting held on December 12, 2017 to discuss the resolution.

“Misr El Khair” foundation honored Chancellor Abdel Hakam on March 13, 2018 on ceremony of the Day of Debt-Saddled people  for introducing the bill mentioned above.

Ministers of Interior, Social Solidarity, Immigration, Local Development and Governor of Giza were honored on that day.

In 2018, in unprecedented event in the judiciary and parliamentarian, Chancellor Abdel Hakam submitted the bill to Solliman Awwad, Deputy-Chair of HoR. Members of the HoR welcomed the bill warmly.

The bill was referred to the Legislative Committee which sent a draft of the bill to Ministries of Interior, Social Solidarity and the Cabinet that praised the bill, in addition to other bills that will be tabled later.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, during his speech on March 21, 2019,  tasked the government to support these bills seeking to solve problems of the debt-saddled people. The presidential direction gave more momentum to the bill.

The Ministry of Justice has created a pan-ministries committee that compromises Chancellor Abdel Hakam to debate the bill and discuss how to apply it. The committee met for the first time on July 8.

Contributed by Ahmed Moamar