Why Does the Sisi Regime Require Graduation from the Military Academy for Government Employment?

In May 2023, the head of the Egyptian regime, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, issued a decree that mandates military training within the Egyptian Military Academy for those seeking government employment.

This decision is in line with the regime’s policy of militarizing the state since the military coup on July 3, 2013, when the prevailing trend became “militarizing the state in form and content.”

In the commonly understood sense, the term “militarization” refers to the process of transforming the military institution from its original role and mission, which typically involves tasks like border protection and defense preparations, into a political institution that closely resembles a ruling party. This expanded role entails involvement in various aspects of governance and other intricate details.

Egypt has paid the price of militarization more than once, particularly evident in the defeat of June 5, 1967, as the most prominent event highlighting the consequences of military personnel leaving their barracks and ascending to positions of power, attempting to shape society according to their own preferences.

At that time, the military leaders lost their authority, leading to significant changes in their administrative structure and mindset.

The generals retreated to the battlefield while the economy gradually broke free from their influence.

However, after 2013, the situation reversed once again, and the influence of officers grew, aggressively seizing state resources and crushing their competitors, which had a devastating impact on the country.

 

Sisi’s Decision

On May 13, 2023, the Mada Masr, an independent Egyptian online newspaper, revealed a periodic memorandum issued by the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, containing a presidential order to the Council of Ministers, instructing state institutions to require individuals aspiring to be appointed in the government to complete a 6-month qualification course at the Egyptian Military Academy as a basic condition for employment.

The memorandum stated that the Secretary-General of the Council, Major General Osama Saad (a military officer), called on ministers to take the necessary measures to consider the qualification certificate issued by the Document Issuance Center after completing the Egyptian Military Academy course as a prerequisite for appointments in all ministries and their affiliated entities.

On May 9, 2023, Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait announced the state’s strategy to appoint 70,000 employees in the government sector during the year 2023/2024.

However, it appears that access through the Military Academy will be an essential requirement.

On February 27, 2023, Sisi himself witnessed the tests conducted for candidates applying for various positions in the entities affiliated with the Ministry of Transport.

These tests were conducted in collaboration with the Military Academy to select and appoint candidates within the ministry.

In a commentary on the decision, the academic Hossam Samy wondered: “Why does any citizen applying for a civil position in the Egyptian government sector need to undergo a mandatory 6-month training course at the Military Academy?”

He also tweeted on May 11, 2023: “Oh God, even communist governments and the former Soviet Union did not do this. It is clear that the model of Kim Jong Un, the North Korean communist dictator, is admired by the officials.”

 

Deliberate Sabotage

The attendance of Sisi and several high-ranking officers at the exams stirred up the resentment of many individuals. This prompted the Minister of Transportation, General Kamel al-Wazir, to make a statement during a phone interview with the pro-regime journalist Ahmed Moussa on March 1, 2023, in response to the militarization of positions. He said: “We militarize the positions. If I were to choose engineers and select them after these exams, then we would be militarizing these positions.”

In an angry tone, he added: “We don’t need to extend the invitation to other people. If we conducted a sample survey of a thousand individuals, we would find 900 of them convinced by the idea and 100 asking why do Ministry of Transportation engineers have to go to the military academy?

Well, it’s because the Minister of Transportation used to be an officer.”

What is striking is that Sisi returned for the second time on April 3, 2023, and attended the exams for applicants for positions in the Ministry of Education and Technical Education.

These exams were conducted under the supervision of the Military Academy, but what is noteworthy is that Minister of Defense and Military Production, General Mohamed Zaki, attended with Sisi this time.

This raised questions about the presence of the Minister of Defense and a group of high-ranking officers in exams for positions in the Ministry of Education. It brings to mind the famous scene on September 22, 2013, a few weeks after the military coup, when the then-army officer with the rank of brigadier general, Mostafa Hassan, delivered a speech to students at the Abdel Aziz Gawish Primary Mixed School, praising the army’s heroism and the stability of the country.

Hassanein then handed over the conversation to a special forces officer, who continued the speech, embodying his role as a leader.

The officer spoke about what he referred to as “armed legitimacy,” a term that the young students did not understand.

However, it expressed a dangerous encroachment of the military institution into the details of Egyptian life, in incomprehensible scenes for the armed forces that decided to leave their barracks and infiltrate various educational institutions.

The issue of the newly established military college courses as a requirement for applicants to civilian positions is not the only problem regarding the military’s encroachment on the civilian sector.

On July 6, 2022, the Official Gazette published a decree by Sisi specifying the academic degrees granted to graduates of the Military Academy and awarding them bachelor’s degrees that are typically granted by universities.

This decision sparked internal anger as it granted military college graduates academic degrees they did not fully study or specialize in, which many considered unfair and provided privileges that harm both the scientific and practical Egyptian reality.

It intentionally undermines university education, cancels the established standards, destroys institutionalism, and marginalizes civil universities.

It is perceived as a continuation of intense competition between military personnel and civilians in all sectors, as well as a step to deprive civilians of opportunities and jobs and appoint officers to civilian positions, especially since the military controls wide sectors of the state’s economy.

The regime’s president seeks to enforce this reality through presidential decisions or the issuance of laws, as happened in 2020 when Law No. 167 was issued, adding the following powers to the armed forces: Expressing opinions on requests for constitutional amendments, expressing opinions on draft laws related to political rights, presidential, parliamentary, and local council elections, and expressing opinions on draft laws related to national security.

 

North Korea Model

The Facebook page “Egyptian Stance” highlighted the institutional reality of former officers dominating senior civilian positions within the state apparatus.

In a report issued on May 15, 2023, the page mentioned: “Starting from the Cabinet Secretariat led by a military figure, Brigadier Osama Saad, to the governors, where 20 of them have a military or security background compared to 6 civilians.

“In addition, 56% of leadership positions have been held by military personnel in 72 state-owned economic entities since 2018. Moreover, 128 military commands oversee matters in public sector companies, which amount to 374 companies.”

This situation of military control and the requirement for job applicants to undergo qualifying courses at the Military Academy raised questions about the role of civil state institutions responsible for training and qualifying employees or professional cadres.

For example, the Central Agency for Organization and Administration, affiliated with the Cabinet, has the primary task of training, qualifying, and enhancing employees’ functional and specialized skills, as well as preparing them to use modern applications in government work.

Similarly, the Leaders Preparation Center for the public sector, established in 1991, aims to qualify and prepare leaders and employees to lead government work.

It is a large institution housing a group of academics and administrators.

So why don’t these sectors and centers oversee the selection of employees and subject them to qualifying courses instead of sending them to the Military Academy?

In commenting on subjecting applicants for civilian jobs to courses at this Academy, Karim Mohamed, an Egyptian academic at the University of New Hampshire in the United States, wondered that if this is not militarization, then what is militarization?

Mohamed added to Al-Estiklal: “We want to know of any advanced or non-advanced modern state in the world that does such a thing. Certainly, to the best of our knowledge, even with the most brutal military regimes in Pakistan and China, there is no such practice.”

He sarcastically continued: “This can only happen in North Korea, that pure military society, and perhaps Sisi sees their leader, Kim Jong Un, as the ultimate role model and seeks to follow him.”

The Egyptian academic further remarked: “Modern management systems start by preparing employees and human resources through courses in centers for industry and decision-making support. These centers are located within each ministry, authority, and government institution and are run by civilian specialists.”

He emphasized that “successful administration cannot be born out of a military context, but rather from competence standards and scientific data, which produce professional expertise in each field accordingly.”

Mohamed concluded his statement by saying: “Military officers are not qualified to manage civilian, governmental, and economic institutions. They require competent, professional, and well-educated civilian specialists who have studied in their respective fields. Deviating from this reality is what led Egypt to this deplorable state across all levels.”