Tunisia President Dismisses PM, Appoints Ahmed Hachani
Tunisia President Kais Saied appointed Ahmed Hachani as new prime minister, replacing Najla Bouden, who ended her duties, the Tunisian presidency said early on Wednesday.
The appointment of Hachani, who served as human resources director at Tunisia’s central bank, comes amid a deepening economic and social crisis in the country.
In recent weeks, the president has repeatedly blamed officials and government, saying they must act to address problems and poor public services, including frequent water and electricity cuts.
“There are great challenges that we must raise … to preserve our homeland, our state and civil peace,” Saied told Hachani after he took the constitutional oath.
“We will work to achieve the will of our people and the desired justice … and to achieve national dignity,” Saied added.
While Bouden’s government supported an economic reform program to obtain a $1.9 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, Saeid rejected any reforms that would include cutting subsidies on food and energy, saying doing so could cause acute social tensions.
Saied had appointed Bouden as prime minister about two years ago, Bouden’s government, however, failed to fix the economic and social crisis, amid fears that Tunisia would be unable to pay its foreign debts due to a severe financial crisis that caused a shortage of many commodities such as bread, farina, sugar, rice and coffee.
