Tunisia’s ministers come and go, but nobody challenges the man who appointed them

Government ministers anywhere generally have status and significance that no one denies, even in the most brutal dictatorships. They are generally chosen on sound grounds, to one degree or another, and are dismissed with good reason. An exception to this rule can be seen in Tunisia. We witness this daily.

Tunisia under President Kais Saied has seen five heads of government since 2019, only the first of whom, Elyes Fakhfakh, resigned in circumstances whose details are not worth mentioning here. The man was not unknown; he was a leader in a well-known party and had been Minister of Tourism and then Minister of Finance in governments after the 2011 revolution.

The public knew nothing about those who came after Fakhfakh, though. Hichem Mechichi was appointed in September 2020, and was known only as one of the president’s advisors. He lasted less than a year, and was removed by Saied’s coup against the constitution in July 2021, as was his government.

The president then appointed Najla Bouden as the first female prime minister in the Arab world. She did not have a political or civil service past to justify keeping her in post for two years (2021-2023), during which Tunisians did not hear her voice.

Bouden was succeeded by Ahmed Hachani, a retired Central Bank employee, who lasted just one year (2023-2024), during which he issued the strangest and most ridiculous statements. His Minister of Social Affairs, Kamel Madouri, was appointed as his successor, and is the incumbent government head.

They came and left without us knowing why, and now some have been forcibly exiled and sentenced to heavy jail terms; some are said to be on the long list of Tunisians with travel bans. People were not surprised by their appointment, or even their dismissal. While Mechichi was removed by the coup, Bouden and Hachani were taken by two statements issued late at night by the presidency with neither explanation nor justification made public.

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If the matter had been limited to the prime ministers, it would’ve been only half as bad, but it has also extended to the ministers in all of their governments.

There is no known competence to justify their appointment, nor is there any serious mistake to justify their dismissal.

Saied’s media mouthpieces support his decisions by claiming that things did not go as they should in the country because the prime ministers did not implement the president’s policies, although no one knows the details of these policies. The pace of the rapid ministerial changes has become more complicated by appointing a new minister to spite the one dismissed, and deliberately insulting the latest minister to be sacked by dragging them in front of the cameras, even though preserving their dignity would also mean preserving the dignity of the state.

For example, we all know that a minister of education was appointed, a unionist opposed to the union leadership, to spite the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), then he was dismissed and a woman was appointed as an inspector of education. The new minister had dismissed her from her position, and she was appointed to spite him, only to be dismissed a few months later, despite her ridiculous flattery of the president. The minister of social affairs was dismissed and to spite him he was replaced by the CEO of the Tunisian National Health Insurance Fund (CNAM), whom this minister had dismissed. Then, without warning, the new minister became the current Prime Minister, Kamel Madouri.

We then witnessed the sad and dramatic manner in which the President of the Republic essentially raided the office of the Minister of Finance Sihem Boughdiri to scold her in front of the television cameras, as she stood in a state of shock and bewilderment. The prime minister was present, but he was helpless.

Dismissals and appointments of ministers are a feature of governments in Tunisia accompanied by complete lack of awareness about the suitability and qualifications for appointments to such senior positions, or reasons for their dismissal. This has happened repeatedly with the interior, foreign affairs, trade, education and agriculture ministers, as well as others. The only exception is Minister of Justice Leila Jaffel, who has been in post since October 2021.

The opposition accuses Jaffel, a judge, of being behind the many “political and arbitrary” prosecutions in Tunisia.

We are witnessing an unprecedented level of chaos and government instability that is unique in Tunisia’s modern history, apart from at the end of the late President Habib Bourguiba’s rule in the mid-1980s, when he fell ill and the conspiracies around him increased, even though he had a reputation for choosing genuine statesmen for his governments. Ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was also known for choosing well-known specialists and leaving them in their positions for reasonable periods to ensure that the state ran smoothly.

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This problem has also extended to Tunisia’s ambassadors abroad and its representatives in the UN and international organisations, and even to regional governors and lower local positions. How can there still be anyone willing to accept a ministry portfolio or other responsibility under such circumstances? More importantly, why has it been acceptable to make all of these people scapegoats, while no one is speaking out against the person who appointed them in the first place? And why does he, specifically, not bear responsibility for the clear failure of these random appointments and even more random changes?

This article first appeared in Arabic in Al-Quds Al-Arabi on 18 February 2025

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.