ALBAWABA - After almost two years in office, Tunisian President Kais Saied decided to lay off Najla Bouden, the first woman to lead a government in the North African country, and appoint Ahmed Hachani as the new prime minister.
The appointment of Hachani, who formerly worked as human resources director at Tunisia's central bank, comes at a time when the country's economic and social crisis worsens. In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly criticized officials and the government, claiming that they must take action to fix problems and bad public services, such as frequent water and power outages.
“There are great challenges that we must raise ... to preserve our homeland, our state and civil peace,” “We will work to achieve the will of our people and the desired justice ... and to achieve national dignity,” Saied told Hachani after he took the constitutional oath.
Saied appointed Bouden on October 11, 2021, two and a half months after the president granted himself broad powers by sacking his then-prime minister and dissolving parliament on July 25.
While Bouden's government supported an economic reform program in order to get a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, Saeid opposed any reforms that included eliminating food and energy subsidies, claiming that doing so would generate major social tensions.
Bouden's government failed to address the economic and social problems, raising concerns that Tunisia would be unable to pay its foreign loans due to a severe financial crisis that resulted in a shortage of various goods such as bread, farina, sugar, rice, and coffee.
