In January 1988, a few months after Ben Ali came to power, political activist and journalist, Naziha Rjiba wrote her famous essay entitled “Cacophony”, in which she challenged Ben Ali and predicted that he would become a dictator who would assault Tunisians.

Having refused the post of a minister in the current government, Naziha Rjiba (known as Um Ziad) believes that the Islamists are on their way toward establishing a dictatorship.

Ms. Rjiba, how do you rate the Troika’s performance six months after taking over power in Tunisia?

In January 1988, a few months after Ben Ali came to power, political activist and journalist, Naziha Rjiba wrote her famous essay entitled “Cacophony”, in which she challenged Ben Ali and predicted that he would become a dictator who would assault Tunisians.

Having refused the post of a minister in the current government, Naziha Rjiba (known as Um Ziad) believes that the Islamists are on their way toward establishing a dictatorship.

Ms. Rjiba, how do you rate the Troika’s performance six months after taking over power in Tunisia?

I was among those who thought well of the Troika. Until recently, I was part of these people as I was a member of the Congress for the Republic Party (CPR), a partner of Troika in power. I did not attach great importance to the technical performance level of ministers and considered that anybody in power, in these circumstances and after the devastation left by Ben Ali, would have a difficult task for sure.

Today, I consider the technical performance of the government as a failure, especially since unemployment, for example, for which the revolution began, has not progressed even a hair’s breadth. I did not expect this government to employ all the unemployed, but I do not believe unemployment has been seriously addressed.

Is unemployment the only problem you see in the new government?

Frankly, I noticed a full deficit in the management of public affairs. The government’s resounding failure is attributed to lack of efficiency as well as adopting the principle of gratification and party quotas in distributing ministerial portfolios. Thank God I have refused the ministerial position offered to me.

The government has built its image on gratification rather than on work. Ettakatol Party and CPR, partners of the ruling Ennahda movement, are merely followers who have made countless concessions to the Ennahda and harmed themselves and the country.

I expect major problems if not revolutionary explosions. The train of democracy and of the second republic is broken and what I have expected to occur, I hope not, is in the process. The Islamic party, the winner in the previous elections, is trying to Islamize the political space gradually rather than forcibly.

Do you think the causes of a second revolution have become existent?

Traditionally, revolutions occur more than once. We have observed this in many revolutions, notably the French Revolution. A revolution is like an earthquake that has aftershocks until the ground settles.

We should not disparage a new revolution. However, I hope that a revolution does not erupt again since it will be expensive, but there is a difference between aspirations and reality. We should not forget the weapons that have leaked and accumulated in Tunisia.

It is said that Islamic parties are stockpiled weapons. Generally, these parties cannot be democratic as democrats do not store weapons because their weapon is opinion and word. Anyway, Tunisia is still free to rebel and the causes for a new revolution are still in place.

Although the election date was set for next March, the issue of the body that will oversee the elections has not yet been resolved?

I think it’s the Ennahda Party, which has been pleased with its winning and ruling. It considers this year insufficient to establish its hegemony and firm a religious dictatorship against a people that has been distressed by dictatorship for more than half a century. The Islamists were victims of dictatorship and they now want to dominate and control the next electoral scene.

The Ennahda Party wants more time to penetrate the society segments, perhaps for feeling that it has lost a lot of people’s confidence and for fear of not winning the next election, if they don’t control it in advance.

Disabling the Higher Electoral Commission aims at reducing people’s registering in elections. I think the Ennahda Party feels that all its supporters registered in the previous elections. This is its balance and voting weight; thus, each new registration will not be in its favor. This is why it is trying to reduce registration rates. Unfortunately, it has been able to control that with criticized silence of the opposition.

The file of high financial compensations for the victims of repression and tyranny, including Islamists and others, has recently headed the overall scene. What’s your comment on this issue?

Compensation is a right of the victim and a duty of the state, but the Ennahda Party has opened this file in a hurry, giving the impression that is wants the spoils of this election. Those who will vote for this law in the Constituent Assembly will in turn receive compensation. They should have been careful in this regard, because in this way we give a very bad impression about the struggle.

Moreover, the current economic conditions are bad and there are worthier segments. In addition, the Islamists did not fight for freedom. I respect them because they have fought for an idea they believe in, but this idea is not democratic but dictatorial. They were struggling to take over power and rule the country in the name of religion. They have no relationship whatsoever to the revolution and the only relationship is that it has established their rights.

Some of those imprisoned by Ben Ali had thrown nitric acid and Molotov cocktails, and others had destroyed school life, as the Ennahda Party or the Islamic Direction Movement at the time was lobbying to take over. Closing this file fairly and equitably will be through the course of transitional justice.

The Ennahda Party is also accused of flooding the Tunisian administration with figures of the dissolved Rally Party, most recently through the appointment of a new governor of the Central Bank, which has sparked a major political storm. What do you think?

This is a great disappointment to me. The Ennaha Party is practicing what they have long suffered from. They revive the depravity of the former ruling Rally Party which has eroded the body of this country. They want to take advantage of the corruption of Ben Ali to build a new corruption.

I do not accept the new governor of the Central Bank in that position, regardless of his experience, because he defended a law by which he wanted to imprison me. I mean the law criminalizing the opposition which contacts foreign authorities. I met foreigners to defend my country and this law was designed to criminalize us. I think there is no more political blindness.

Eyes have begun moving toward the Tunisia Appeal Movement (Mouvement Appel Tunisie – MAT) led by Beji Caid Sebsi, as a possible political alternative for the Ennahda Party. Do you think it is really able to compete in the elections?

Fear of the Ennahda Party pushes the people toward MAT. This movement however includes former members of the Constitutional Party in the reign of Bourguiba, and Sebsi is a member of the Rally Party. If the rule of constitutionalists returned, it’s the fault of the Ennahda Party firstly, which created a fear in the society, and of the opposition secondly, because it could not create a strong party. So, Sebsi has come and occupied the political space.

If MAT is a cover of the Constitutional and Rally parties, I don’t really wish it to succeed because Tunisia needs renovation. It is sad to find Tunisia after the revolution between two reactionary currents, as the Islamic one is reactionary and the constitutionals are past-oriented, who want to return as if Tunisia had no plans for the future.