TUNIS – Views differed on the series of dismissals that successively excluded ministers close to Tunisian President Kais Saied, between those who considered it evidence of the president's confusion in the administration of government and those who estimated that it is in the context of injecting new blood to improve the performance of his government during the next stage.

The latest dismissals announced by the presidency of the Republic of Tunisia included on Friday Interior Minister Tawfiq Charafeddine right arm of Said, and his exclusion has sparked widespread noise about the reasons for his dismissal, at a time when the Minister of Interior himself announced that the president accepted his resignation.

Before the removal of the interior minister, the presidency had previously announced the termination of the duties of former Foreign Minister Othman al-Jerandi and Minister of Employment Nasr al-Din al-Nasibi other ministers, including Minister of Education Fathi al-Salawti, Minister of Trade Fadhila al-Rabhi and Minister of Agriculture Elias Hamza.

All of these ministers were appointed to office by the president based on previous assessments of their CVs and on the basis of their approval in support of the extraordinary measures he took more than a year and a half ago, although the opposition saw them as a blow to the country's democratic transition.

Contrary to what the presidency published in October 2020 regarding the president's acceptance of the resignation of his adviser Rachida Ennifar, the presidency issued only statements related to the dismissal and dismissal of other ministers, without an official explanation on the reasons for these vague dismissals.

President's confusion

Ennahda leader Riad al-Shuaibi said the way in which a number of ministers close to the president, including Interior Minister Tawfiq Charafeddine, were dismissed, reflects "confusion" within the power system, which is increasingly isolated abroad and increasingly unable to resolve economic and financial conditions.

Shuaibi says to Al Jazeera Net that there is a "moral problem" in the way to exempt ministers close to the president, especially that some of them learned of their dismissal through communication platforms, stressing that the existing authority is ready to abandon those close to it for any reason without taking into account the rules on dismissals.

In his view, the current authority sacrificed the former interior minister after using him as a tool to suppress opponents and violate the rights of politicians, trade unionists and media professionals as a result of a campaign of random arrests aimed at beating the president's opponents in order to perpetuate his individual rule, according to him.

Since February, Tunisia has witnessed a campaign of arrests against opposition politicians, businessmen, judges, trade unionists and others on serious charges, including conspiracy against state security and money laundering, while the opposition says the arrests are aimed at intimidating and silencing its voice.

Al-Shuaibi said that former Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharaf al-Din and current Justice Minister Laila Jaffal are among the most active ministers in the current government to serve the interests of President Kais Saied, considering that their performance was strong in the context of restricting rights and freedoms, as he put it.

As for the performance of the rest of the government ministers, he says that it is characterized by weakness and paralysis, whether at the level of communication or achievements, stressing that the president did not offer any solutions to Tunisians other than stirring up negative feelings of hatred, hatred and division of society without any economic or social achievement.

New blood

On the other hand, Osama Oueidat, a leader of the People's Movement in support of the exceptional measures of President Kais Saied, said that Interior Minister Tawfiq Sharafeddine's statement requesting his resignation cannot be considered a jump from the ship led by the president, stressing that he is not the type to escape.

He considered that the president's announcement of a number of dismissals in his government may indicate his tendency to inject new blood into the system of government, in an effort to draw new public policies in line with the nature of the next stage after the formation of a new parliament.

Oueidat acknowledges "the weak performance of the government in achieving the goals of the July 25, 2021 track," the date the president announced the exceptional measures under which he dissolved parliament, dismissed the previous government, abolished the previous constitution, dissolved the Supreme Judicial Council, and ruled the country by presidential decrees.

He says that Tunisia has entered a new phase after the formation of the new parliament, which requires ending the exceptional situation and forming a political government that has a vision capable of resolving the economic and social conditions that remained in crisis and stagnated with the current government.


Scapegoats

For his part, says political activity Hatem Maliki for Al Jazeera Net that the appointment of the President and his ministers based on loyalties and not competencies, considering that the total dismissals previous were temperamental according to the whims of the President, who did not provide any official justifications on the background and reasons for those exemptions.

Al-Maliki said that the criterion set for the dismissal of ministers is far from the logic of running the wheels of the state and is related to the proximity of people and their compatibility with President Kais Saied, stressing that the president is still living in a state of continuous denial by refusing to assume his responsibility in the way officials are selected and his policies are formulated.

The president is in the process of blaming his ministers for the deterioration of the situation by presenting them as scapegoats, he added, expressing concern about the appointment of Tunisian Governor Kamal al-Feki as the new interior minister due to his hardline stances on freedom of expression and freedom to demonstrate in the street.

The presidency of the Republic of Tunisia announced on Friday the appointment of the governor of Tunisia, Kamal al-Fiki, known for his loyalty to President Kais Saied, as the new interior minister.

Feki had previously refused to grant the opposition Salvation Front permission to demonstrate in the capital against the president.

On Thursday, the European Union adopted a resolution urging the Tunisian authorities to release detained dissidents and respect freedom of expression, stressing the need to suspend EU support programs directed to the ministries of justice and interior.