Today in Tunisia, in such a dangerous health situation concurrent with a deteriorating economic and financial situation, there are no less than 18 ministries, some of which are sovereign and others concerned with the major economic and financial sectors, which are run by one minister for every two ministries. This is the phenomenon that began last January, when the Prime Minister carried out a ministerial reshuffle and the President of the Republic refused to accept it.
To this day, the Prime Minister insists on this approach, despite the warnings of experts and observers of its negative repercussions.
“Dual management” includes sensitive economic ministries such as Agriculture, which is led by the Acting Minister of Communication Technologies, Industry, Energy and Mines, which is led by the Acting Minister of Commerce, Tourism, which is directed by a Minister charged with running the Acting Ministry of Culture, Local Affairs and the Environment managed by the Acting Minister of Equipment, State Property and Real Estate Affairs, which is managed by the Minister of Economic Affairs Acting Religious Affairs and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Professional Integration, which are managed by the Acting Secretary of State for Sports.
The acting administration also includes two sovereign portfolios: the Ministry of Justice, which is managed by the Minister of Public Service, and the Ministry of the Interior, which is run by the Acting Prime Minister. Recently, the Ministry of Health was added, which is led by the Acting Minister of Social Affairs, and this is without considering the Ministry of Finance, which has been included since the formation of the government of the Ministries of Economy and Investment Support under the supervision of one minister, and only 7 ministries have survived this march.
It has become clear over the past period that the option of running ministries by proxy was a failure in light of the state of paralysis and deficit that affected various fields: neither the state succeeded in economic and financial rescue in light of the deterioration of all economic and financial indicators and figures to an unprecedented level and the decline of Tunisia’s sovereign numbering, nor did it succeed in Dealing well with the Corona crisis at the level of providing vaccines and taking good care of patients in public hospitals, which made Tunisia classified as a high-risk country.
Specialists considered, in the recent period, that the most prominent economic and social sectors fell victim to the option of “management by proxy”, and the evidence for this is the lack of any development or improvement in them, in addition to the deterioration of their indicators and financial returns. We must also wait for what will happen to the situation in the coming period in the Ministries of Social Affairs and Health, after they were also covered by the acting administration. There is also talk of a decline in the performance of the Ministries of Interior and Justice for the same reason.
Although the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, bears part of the responsibility for this “confusion” after refusing to accept the ministerial reshuffle made by the Prime Minister, the latter’s responsibility appears to be greater. The prime minister could have reversed this ministerial modification and kept the original government team, since it sparked controversy, until a consensus is found between him and the president of the republic. He could also search for consensus with the President of the Republic on new names to be chosen, but that did not happen.
According to most specialists, the continuation of this situation will push the country to dire results in the coming period, especially in light of the continuing fluctuations in the epidemiological situation and the continuing state of economic and financial weakness and social tension. This is what calls for an immediate end to the “farce” of the acting ministries, in order to preserve what is left of the state to save this people economically, financially and healthily.
