The fifth Prime Minister of the Republic of Kaïs Saïed, who has destroyed more heads of government than any of his predecessors since the aforementioned revolution, was dismissed last night, one year and one week to the day after being appointed, replacing Najla Bouden.
A veritable political ogre, in just one term Saïed has “consumed” almost as much as Bourguiba (6 prime ministers), as much as Ben Ali (6 governments), more than Mbazaa the interim (2 prime ministers), more than Moncef Marzouki (4 prime ministers) and more than Caïed Essebsi (3 prime ministers), not to mention the only prime minister during Mohamed Ennaceur’s three-month interim.
As with the other four (Youssef Chahed, Elyes Fakhfakh, Hichem Mechichi and Najla Bouden), the “very dear friend of Kais Saied”, of whom he was so proud in Algeria and whose gift he highlighted on February 7, 2024, had no scruples and dismissed Ahmed Hachani with immediate effect at around 10 p.m., when the announcement of the audience with his successor was published.
– Did Hachani know?
Did he know he was going to be dismissed when he posted 4 short videos on the internet, summarizing his brief appearance at almost the same time as the audience between the head of state and his new prime minister? On the Facebook page of the Tunisian Prime Ministry, the communication services had got into the habit of regularly posting online summaries of their own leader’s activities in pdf format since March 2024. Would switching to video, the format used by their leader’s boss, have been fatal for him?
Had Hachani anticipated his exit through the back door of Tunisian politics by publishing, this time on video, under the title “Pour Mémoire” (sic), the activities of the prime minister he knew he would no longer be? Or had he, on the contrary, been dismissed for doing so and, like his leader, resorted to communication on social media?
Perhaps he thought he was doing the right thing by taking part in the presidential campaign, in his own way and without the ISIE perceiving this act of propaganda as an early campaign by candidate Saïed? For now, all this is and will remain speculation.
The fact that these videos were not removed on Thursday could also mean that they were not the cause of Hachani’s departure, which, like all ministerial reshuffles in Tunisia, remains a mystery.
What is new, however, is that since Najla Bouden’s dismissal, Kais Saïed has visited the Kasbah to thank the outgoing minister and inaugurate the new tenant in an official ceremony. A gesture that could be interpreted as more humanitarian in this game of political bowling in Tunisia, and which reframes it in terms of a simple act of power alternation.
– Community law specialist versus financial lawyer
The new prime minister was born on July 25, 1974 in Téboursouk, in north-western Tunisia, at the height of the economic boom under the Nouira government.
Kamel Madouri holds a doctorate in Community law and relations between the Maghreb and Europe, and a master’s degree in law from the Faculty of Law, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis 2.
He is a graduate of the École nationale d’administration (ENA) and, in 2015, of the National Institute of Defense. He is also an international negotiator. He has been a member of the National Council for Social Dialogue and Vice-Chairman of the Social Protection Sub-Committee of the same Council, as well as a member of the boards of several national institutions, the General Insurance Committee and the boards of the three social security funds. He has also taught at the École nationale d’administration and the College of Internal Security Forces.
– A man with qualifications that make him “look the part”
And while it is worth noting that this specialization in Community law could explain the choice of Madouri by a President who promotes the Communitarian economy as a political project and encourages private banks to invest in it, it is also worth noting the absence of an economic or financial dimension in the new prime minister, even though he was once head of the CNSS, in Saïed’s project, which is supposed to be socio-economic.
Another dimension, the social dimension of the new prime minister could also explain why Saïed chose him. The rest of Madouri’s qualifications would place him almost at the center of Kaïs Saïed’s actions and the problems he faces, both locally and abroad.
What’s more, those who know Madouri describe him, as former advisor of Beji Caid Essebsi, Saida Garrach put it in a recent Facebook post, as independent and “a pure product of the choices made by the state at independence”.
As far as Hachani is concerned, the videos of his 372 days at the head of the Prime Minister’s Office show that he has not been idle on the economic and financial fronts and that he has launched several economic projects, even if he has not yet seen the results, particularly in terms of rising prices despite stable inflation and shortages that are diminishing without disappearing.
