Tunis, Jan. 21 — President Kais Saied reiterated the need to move forward as soon as possible to restore the social role of the state, which has been abandoned since the early 1990s and worsened since 2011, at a time when the Tunisian people were demanding jobs, freedom and national dignity.
This came at a meeting he chaired at Carthage Palace on Monday attended by Prime Minister Kamel Madouri, Finance Minister Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia and Social Affairs Minister Issam Lahmar.
The President of the Republic reiterated the need to move forward as soon as possible to restore the social role of the state, which has been abandoned since the early 1990s and worsened since 2011, at a time when the Tunisian people are demanding jobs, freedom and national dignity.
"Educational institutions, hospitals and many other public institutions have been eroded and only a few remain," the head of state was quoted as saying in a presidency statement.
This is in addition to the pointless inflation of public institutions and their drain on public funds, such as the number of agencies and institutions affiliated to a ministry, whose allocations, in addition to the ministry's budget, amount to almost 500 million dinars, or institutions set up to promote investment, as well as branches abroad, which number in the dozens".
The President of the Republic added: "Neither the desired investments have been achieved, nor have the funds of the national community benefited the Tunisian people who pay taxes to finance them, so it is better that public funds are not wasted to benefit the poor".
The statement also quoted the Head of State as saying that the number of institutions and the funds allocated to them should be used to alleviate the misery and poverty of those who have been excluded and remain unemployed.
"This is not a question of selling off public institutions and facilities, as has been rumoured, but of preserving public funds and avoiding this inflation of institutions, as well as the disruption of projects that have been started, stopped or not completed".
The President of the Republic also said that "while in some countries there is only one contact point, Tunisia has a High Council for Investment, a Tunisian Investment Authority, a Tunisian Investment Fund and four agencies, the first for foreign investment, the second for agricultural investment, the third for export promotion, the fourth for industrial investment promotion and the fifth for the promotion of industry and innovation.
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In addition, «some are still calling for the creation of a new institution or agency, as if investment were about creating institutions and not about creating wealth and distributing its proceeds for the benefit of the country and all its citizens".
The President of the Republic concluded that he had promulgated the finance law so that the state could continue, but that many decisions needed to be reviewed so that the goals of the revolution could be achieved.
"The revolution must replace what came before it and break with laws and institutions that were made to measure, as well as the lack of any usefulness along with illegal privileges and corruption," the statement said.
On another level, the Head of State reiterated the need for austerity and self-reliance, stressing once again that there can be no compromise in putting an end to subcontracting and fixed-term contracts, and that those who seek to do otherwise are going against the course of the revolution and the movement of history.
"There is no good in history repeating itself under disguised names. Slavery is slavery, even if some of its elements change, and justice and fairness will ensure stability, and this stability is the first natural prelude to investments that generate real national growth, not growth calculated on rents," the President was also quoted as saying in the statement.
