May 5, 2021
Monday night, Hichem Mechichi, the head of government, who is also in charge of the Ministry of the Interior, visited the National Guard Commando Barracks in Bir Bouregba where he reviewed the activities of this unit and inquired about their working conditions and the equipment at their disposal. Mechichi subsequently arranged to share the “Iftar” (Ramadhan dinner) with the officers and agents of the unit. The information seems trivial, but for the most informed of experts, it is, quite simply, a response to the visit made by Kaïes Saïed to the armed forces on the Kasserine side, during which he shared the “Iftar” with the units of the National Guard in the park of Chaâmbi, a closed military zone.
A few weeks before, the President of the Republic paid a surprise visit to the Interior Ministry where he met with senior executives and agents before walking along Avenue Bourguiba with them.
And as expected, Mechichi didn’t take long to launch his counter-attack and also go to a security forces barracks with almost the same program on the menu.
A Silent and Degrading Battle
The frantic race to get hold of the security forces is between two of the three heads of power since Ennahdha, who dominates the Parliament, prefers to evolve in the shadows without making too much noise with unfailing support to Hichem Mechichi who must keep his hold on the Ministry of the Interior, where secrets and serious truths continue to be «buried». And it was Kaïs Saïed who set the tone more openly on this silent battle when he declared, in the presence of Hichem Mechichi and Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahdha and the president of Parliament, that the Constitution, thanks to its ambiguous texts, puts all the armed forces of the country under the command of the President of the Republic.
A few days later, Mechichi announced the appointment of Lazhar Loungou, a friend of the “Nahdhaouis”, to the post of director of special services, he who had already been the central director of intelligence before being sacked by the former minister of Interior Taoufik Charfeddine, a relative of Kaïes Saïed.
This means that on the side of Carthage (The presidency), like that of “La Kasbah” (the government) via “the Bardo” (Parliament), we prefer to play cat and mouse with repeated offensives and counter-offensives without worrying about the need to work for the general interest.
Ah, this Constitution!
The situation is grim and heralds a very uncertain future. On the one hand, the Prime Minister is determined to protect the interests of the parties in power in Parliament and which form his political belt to stay in power and even to achieve higher goals in the future, and on the other hand, the President of the Republic, has decided to wage his battle in the sands of the constitution and to interpret it “à la carte”.
As a result, the country once again finds itself held hostage by its heads of power and their designs and fantasies.
In Carthage and like his predecessor Béji Caïd Essebsi, Kaïes Saïed made no secret of the inconvenience caused to him by the few prerogatives granted to him by the Constitution promulgated in 2014, cloistering him in the minimum portion of a power which essentially goes to the other head of the Executive and even more to Parliament. Without having to go and nibble some of their powers, it is in the solemn texts of the Republic that he thinks he has found the total and entire legitimacy of becoming the president he wants to be.
On the other hand, Mechichi and his Islamic godfathers cling to a political system that gives the majority of the basic privileges to Parliament as agreed upon in the constitution that stipulates the thing and its opposite, and thus it turns out to be a poisoned gift offered to the country.
It takes no more than awakening our old and grim demons from sad memories. Trench warfare and moves to expel his opponents, who in turn sing the song of constitutional legitimacy and throw ropes, knives and mercenaries into the battle… This is the zero degree of morality, an odious, stinking, obscene, dishonorable and cruel politics…
How far will this dirty war of positions and prerogatives go? Nothing says that it is a simple and ephemeral clash…
