Tunisia/Decentralization process: Civil society solicited

The Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment will still have work to do. Similarly, the kingpin of the consultation, Mustapha Ben Jaâfar, and his lieutenants will have to follow up on the ideas and recommendations proposed in this framework.

The national consultation on decentralization, launched at the end of May, continues to listen to opinions and counter-opinions in order to better advance a process that is so slow and still vague. Laying the groundwork for local power, which is supposed to give the region its full autonomy, is no easy task. The centralized state still seems to be galvanized on the rubble of a regionalism that has long been entrenched in people's minds. Deconcentration pure and simple, far from it!

The Ministry of Local Affairs and the Environment will still have its work cut out for it.

Similarly, the kingpin of the consultation, Mr. Mustapha Ben Jaâfar, and his lieutenants, will have to follow up on the ideas and recommendations proposed in this framework. How should this decentralization process be perceived? What are the short and long term challenges? After the mayors of municipalities and state institutions, it is the turn of civil society to answer these questions. During a recent meeting in Tunis, a number of associations and civil organizations discussed what it would take to lay the foundations of a well-founded local power. They mentioned a whole communal modus operandi. But is there really a political will to establish this decentralisation? This was, in their eyes, the central issue, around which all the problems related to the management of local affairs revolve. "There is no intention to do so," said Youssef Abid, representative of Al Bawsala.

When political will is lacking

This political will has always been the Achilles' heel that weighs on the continuity of the state. The right ratio of deconcentration to decentralization is, without a doubt, the linchpin of local power. What do people think about it? Some people claim that the merger of small and medium-sized municipalities is likely to ensure the performance of work. This is in the sense that there is strength in numbers. But it is not clear that such a linkage can create a synergy of action. Others have raised the issue of training of municipal agents, which could improve the rate of supervision, currently about 11%.

A rate so low that it makes the situation much more complex. Wissem Zarrouk, president of the association "Bizerte Cleaner", wondered about the reassignment of municipal agents and the planned recruitment of construction workers. Hayet Hamida, from the association "Femmes élues", recommended the settlement of the land problem, in order to facilitate investments and determine the domains of the communes.

Transparency and communication

The slowness of the decentralisation process was also contested. Is this true? Several experts in the field stated that such a process will take enough time. It cannot be decreed in a single step, especially since its implementation requires at least 27 years.

So there is still a long way to go. In the meantime, more transparency and communication is needed at this level. Otherwise, municipal action will not advance one iota.

The civil society debate led to other recommendations, already raised before. These include the revision of the local government code, the amendment of the electoral law, the resolution of the conflict of competences between the central state and the local authorities, and the creation of a new local government.between the central state and local authorities and many other valuable tips for the development of the region. Next meeting, July 2, with representatives of national authorities who will also say their word.

Source: lapresse.tn