Description

Articles 4 and 25 and 26 in the Law 43/1979 defines the governor as:

• Each governorate shall be represented by its governor, who also shall represent each unit of the other local government units before justice and others.
• A decree shall be issued by the president of the republic.
• The governor is not allowed to be a member of either the People Assembly or the Shura council.
• The governors are assumed to be the resigned pursuant to law by the expiry of the presidency.
• The governor shall be treated as a minister in respect to salary and pension.

Article 187 in the new Egyptian constitution backs up this law by stating that:

The law regulates the manner of selecting governors and heads of other local administrative units, and defines their jurisdiction.

Responsibilities

Articles 26-29 states the responsibilities of the Governor. Some are listed below:

• The governor is assumed to be the representative of the president in the governorate.
• He shall take charge of the execution of the state’s general policy.
• He has complete authority over all services, utilities, and production within the scope of the governorate with all respect of all the public utilities which enter within the competence of the Local government units, pursuant of the provisions of this law, the governor shall take charge of the powers and executive competences stated for ministries, according to this law and its active regulation, the governor, within the scope of the governorate is the head of all local utilities.
• The governor shall have the stated power of the minister  with regard to the resolutions issued from the public authorities’ boards of directors, which take charge of the public utilities for services within the scope of the governorate.
• The governor shall take charge of the supervision of the national utilities within the boundaries of the governorate and also all the branches of the ministries, whose competences have not yet been transferred to local units (this has only been active for the ministry of housing), except for the judicial authorities and their assisting bodies.

Article 28 sets the limits for the governor in the lands of the governorates as follows:

It is permissible for the governor – after the approval of the local popular council of the governorate, and within the limits of public rules which are laid down by the Cabinet – to decide the rules for disposing of lands prepared for building, owned by the State, and the local government units within the scope of the governorate; and the rules for disposing of cultivable lands inside the reins of power, and adjacent lands, and extending to a distance of two kilometers where the governorate takes charge of its reclamation after obtaining the opinion of the ministry of land reclamation, if there is priority for this disposal.