The militarisation of the Egyptian state has accelerated significantly under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who came to power through a military coup that marked its 13th anniversary earlier this month.

In a systematic process, military officers continue to be appointed to ministerial positions, generals are gaining greater influence over provincial governors’ appointments, the army-affiliated Mostaqbal Misr (Future of Egypt) Agency is being granted sweeping economic powers, and the appointment of judges, imams, teachers and civil servants is increasingly tied to prior approval from the Egyptian Military Academy.

In a systematic process, military officers continue to be appointed to ministerial positions, generals are gaining greater influence over provincial governors’ appointments, the army-affiliated Mostaqbal Misr (Future of Egypt) Agency is being granted sweeping economic powers, and the appointment of judges, imams, teachers and civil servants is increasingly tied to prior approval from the Egyptian Military Academy.

El-Sisi ousted the country’s first democratically elected civilian president, the late Mohamed Morsi, on 3rd July 2013. Since then, he has steadily accelerated efforts to embed the military throughout the institutions of government and the economy.

A new phase of militarisation

Egypt is witnessing an unprecedented phase in the militarisation of the state, reflected in a series of recent presidential, legislative and executive decisions.

Days ago, Egypt’s House of Representatives approved a bill to reorganise the work of the Future of Egypt Agency for Sustainable Development, an entity that is primarily affiliated with the Egyptian Air Force. The agency has broad powers covering planning and regulation, issuing licences, managing assets, investment and borrowing.

The full scale of the projects managed by the sovereign agency—which reports directly to the president—remains unknown. Its financial records and accounts are not subject to public audit, while state land and major development projects continue to be allocated to it through direct award rather than competitive tender.

Under the headline “Hands Off Mostaqbal Misr”, the independent news outlet Mada Masr reported that Cairo University political science professor Mostafa Kamel El-Sayed had been informed by the editor-in-chief of the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper that his article on the draft law would not be published because it addressed “sensitive issues related to the role of the armed forces in the economy—issues the media is now expected to avoid.”

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In the article, which was later published by the independent news platform Al-Manassa (article link: https://h1.nu/1u6FJ), El-Sayed argued that the proposed bill “would significantly expand the role of the Mostaqbal Misr Agency........

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