Finally, the Long-Awaited News: Municipalities to be Reinstated
The head of the internal regulations committee of the National Council of Regions and Districts (Cnrd) has announced that the status of municipalities will be amended soon. This means that, in the first instance, mayors will be reinstated, contrary to claims that the democratic municipal experience has come to an end and that municipal officials will be appointed in the future, similar to administrative staff, regardless of their rank or position.
In the second instance, the announcement of the revision of the municipal status, which dates back to 1975, shows that President Kaïs Saïed remains committed to allowing Tunisians to manage their own city affairs through representatives they will choose freely and calmly. However, this time, the selection will be based on proven competence, popular influence, and effective adherence to the militant culture of the salvation process of July 25, 2021.
This approach moves away from old practices where trade union responsibility was considered a spoil of war offered to certain political parties and some associations that Tunisians no longer want to hear about. Vaccinated against professional liars and deeply rooted in democratic culture, Tunisians have been able to distinguish between good and bad and choose the men and women who deserve their trust.
Tunisians will once again rise to the occasion and exercise their absolute right to manage their cities when the time comes. The decision to dissolve all municipal councils, taken by the Head of State on March 8, 2023, has the merit of having definitively unmasked the old officials of the decade of chaos who corrupted all state structures, including the main municipalities and even the constituencies of large suburbs. This was done to discredit the democratic municipal experience in the eyes of ordinary citizens, whose only contact with politics is their municipality, considered the essential center of power, even before delegation, governorate, or ministry, including those of sovereignty.
