Today, Friday, July 9, 2021, the official spokesman for the Association of High Commissioners in Customs, Brigadier Khaled Al Kathiri, told “JDD Tunisie” that the customs corps is in a state of congestion and injustice due to the grave of a project to reform and restructure the public administration legally, legislatively and socially.
Kthiri said that since 2011 the customs office has been suffering from bullying and pressure, accusing it of corruption and holding it responsible for the failure of the system, in addition to attempts to domesticate it by imposing the heavy stick through dismissal of officers and arbitrary transfer.
He explained that in 2013 reforms were approved with the approval of the World Customs Organization, including structuring the administration to accommodate tires, agents and capabilities, but it was postponed to 2015, then to 2018, and then to 2021, so the file was buried inside the corridors of the Ministry of Finance because of a group that did not want the customs to have its say, as he put it.
Brigadier General Kthiri spoke of abandoning the approval of enrolling a group of officers in embassies in the frameworks of economic diplomacy to facilitate procedures and open the door for foreign investment, adding that every time, frameworks are enjoyed exclusively in external training courses, in addition to deviations at the level of assignments that are presented on the basis of loyalties without considerations of seniority and efficiency. After dumping the administration in the ranks, he indicated that there are at least 600 staff at the rank of brigadier general without them enjoying the professional and career path.
Our interlocutor emphasized that the customs office does not enjoy the privileges of the paramilitary forces such as your active authority, as the agents do not enjoy the danger bonus despite the martyrs offered in the war on terrorism and smuggling, and the extra hours bonus has not been paid since 1984, when it must be updated in parallel with the update of the wage.
Kthiri olcalled for clear reforms to be discussed with all those involved and concerned with them in a horizontal manner, calling for a meeting of the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament and the Prime Minister to present the viewpoint of the corps staff.
He said that coordination will be made with the security unions to carry out protest movements, despite their awareness of the sensitivity of the situation, so they demand to deal with them with a degree of responsibility, as he put it.
