INSTABILITY. In 21 months, six ministers have succeeded at the head of the Department of Health. A consequence of the political crisis between Carthage and the Kasbah.
Since the legislative elections of 2019 and three governments, six ministers have succeeded at the head of Tunisian health. The ministry, a large white building with pale blue blinds, dominates the Place Bab-Saadoun in Tunis. There will take place, Thursday morning, yet another handover of power between the new “interim” minister, Mohamed Trabelsi, and Faouzi Mehdi, who was unceremoniously dismissed. Trabelsi, current Minister of Social Affairs, surgeon of union negotiations, and seasoned anesthesiologist of social pain, accidentally becomes the anti-Covid gentleman. “He is embarrassed by this appointment”, confides one of his relatives, but “the sense of the State dictated to him to accept”. He replaces Faouzi Mehdi, in office for ten months. Which succeeded Habib Kchaou, who remained forty-eight days at his post. “It’s a merry-go-round”, deplores an official. The performance of Mehdi at the head of the ministry had been considered inconclusive by the president of the government, Hichem Mechichi. This military doctor, an alliance of white and khaki, had to be replaced seven months ago. Alas, the President of the Republic, Kaïs Saïed, had blocked the entire reshuffle, several prospective ministers being suspected of corruption. The successive crises in Health will have overcome the status quo.
Minister learns of his ouster on Facebook
The ax fell on the back of Faouzi Mehdi’s neck after the first day of open vaccination. A new strategy providing the population with drop-in centers from the age of 18. On the day of Eid, a public holiday, the queues stretched out at dawn. Some waited more than six hours. Most centers only had 800 to 1000 doses at most.
Under the devil’s heat – it is 35 degrees in Tunis – the barrier gestures have melted in the sun and nervousness has led to the closure of some centers. Images of crowded crowds raise fears that some queues have turned into giant clusters. A crisis that is added to that of oxygen – which is lacking in some intensive care units. The video of an intensive care unit chief in tears deeply affected the country: he had no more oxygen and could no longer save his life.
Consequence: the minister was dismissed from his post via a terse press release issued after the news broke. Reading his Facebook post, twenty lines, Mehdi learned the news while browsing social networks. This dismissal carries a strong political flavor. The dismissal was close to the head of state, who is in open conflict with the Kasbah. Political paralysis is total in Tunisia and the fight against the virus is affected. The pandemic has never been so deadly as this summer.
The army to manage the Covid-19
Kaïs Saïed added his personal touch after twenty-four hours of political conjunctures. Visiting a vaccination center, he wanted to entrust the management of the Covid crisis to the military health department, one of whose missions is “the design of medical intervention plans in the event of a disaster”. He specified that the many international aids which flow to Tunisia ( France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait…) is a result of his initiatives. An indirect way of responding to the ousting of Mehdi.
Political settling of scores
Yesterday, 177 Tunisians died from the virus, 17,821 since the start of the pandemic. Under international health assistance, the young democracy lives at a time of incessant political settling of accounts. With six ministers of health in twenty-one months, the “Cluedo” politician has a chain of losing parties. Mohamed Trabelsi will be both Minister of Social Affairs and Acting Minister of Health. He alone has to manage two ministries and two administrations on the front line in the face of the health crisis and the social crisis. A priesthood, especially since “the interim has become the norm”, taunts a counselor.
