Tunisia: Administrative and financial scrutiny in Foreign Ministry

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed decided on Wednesday to entrust a government body to conduct an in-depth administrative and financial scrutiny at the Foreign Ministry.

The decision comes one day after Foreign Minister Khamis Al-Juhainawi and Defence Minister Abdul Karim Al-Zubaidi were relieved of their duties.

Chahed’s decision was announced in a statement, released by the Tunisian President’s office today.

The statement indicated that: “The Prime Minister decided to entrust the General Regulatory Authority of public interests (governmental), to carry out the tasks of an in-depth administrative and financial inspection at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and several other administrative departments,” without further specifying details about the mission.

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The statement added that the decision came “within the framework of keenness to improve governance and rationalise the functioning of structures (institutions) and public interests (government), after consulting and coordinating with the presidency to give more efficiency and transparency in the management of state structures and improve their efficiency.”

On Tuesday, the Tunisian government decided to exempt the Foreign Minister Khamis Al-Juhainawi and Defence Minister Abdul Karim Al-Zubaidi.

The decision included assigning Minister of Justice Karim El Jamousi as acting defence minister and secretary of state (assistant minister) to Foreign Minister Sabri Bash Tabaji to run the foreign affairs ministry.

On Tuesday, Tunisian media reported that the Presidency formally requested from the government to authorise the commercial inspection services to conduct a comprehensive financial audit of the presidential institution’s administrative departments.

According to the same sources, the prime minister formally approved the request and issued a formal authorisation to precede a strict financial inspection soon into the different departments’ expenditures over recent years.