NAHDA lacks political competence

Mohamed Brahmi Tunis - Nabil Zaghdoud The Tunisian National Constituent Assembly's member, Mohamed Brahmi claimed  that Tunisia's ruling coalition has failed in managing the affairs of the country, despite being in power for more than two months. Brahmi believes that the reason behind this is the absence of a programme  as well as lack of experience and the failure to meet its promises. Brahmi explained to 'Arabstoday' that this state of affairs  prevails throughout the country, made all the more apparent by the absence of the state in many of Tunisia's regional governorates . Brahmi stated that the government has failed to attract foreign investment and reduce the  unemployment rate which remains static while the economic crisis escalates, despite their promises to the contrary. Brahmi, the President of the Movement of the People,  emphasized that the Islamic Renaissance Movement Party (NAHDA)  which forms the majority of the Council, has no clear programme of action which has  led to  confusion.  While it has a  strong desire in handing over of power,  it has failed to find solutions for Tunisia's citizens to pull the country out of a political crisis. Brahmi noted that the country is in need for a national consensus in order to provide solutions for the major issues and that this consensus should include all the components of  civil society - political parties, organizations and associations. Moreover, he said that the role of the legislative council should be  to draft laws and implement a national programme, calling NAHDA to get rid of what he called "the belief that the polls gave them a popular mandate for the current rulers". The Constituent Assembly's member warned of the state of frustration and disappointment affected the citizens due to the fluctuating policy of the government and the inconsistency between the ruling coalitions. He added that this inconsistency arose due to NAHDA's lack of experience in managing the country. Brahmi called on the government not to wait for stability in order to reveal its investments, as the stability of the security situation is linked to providing employment opportunities,  denying the accusations that the opposition party was behind sporadic   protests which have erupted  from time to time. Regarding the threat of the new authorities  in preventing protests and sit-ins, the National Constituent Assembly's member said that the government is not able to realize that Tunisians who protested against Bin Ali will not be prepared to submit to authority once again. As for the ideological conflict experienced byTunisians, Brahmi said that this crisis was planned and the case is not just a conflict between Secularism and Islamism, because the matter of identity is settled and all Tunisians are Arab, stressing that  such a dialogue is wrong and is intended to direct the intention of the public opinion away from the main issues. "The NAHDA Movement  did this in order to direct the public's attention away from the  priorities such as  providing food, infrastructure, a health system and education reform", added Brahmi. Regarding the restructuring of the political map following the elections of the National Constituent Assembly through merging several parties in political blocs, Brahmi said that this is a normal issue and that he expects that after 4 to 5 years there would be no be more than 15 parties in Tunisia, revealing that the movement of the people seeks to reunite all nationalists in a political alliance. As for writing the constitution, Brahmi said that this issue depends on the ruling Troika, pointing out that it depends on  fulfilling its promises to draft the constitution within a year as well as in its success on managing the country's affairs. "I am sure that if they succeed in that, they would be interested in power and would try to reorganize their situation and if they failed in that, they would try to accelerate the completion of the constitution and present it to the referendum", Brahmi said.