Lilya Halloul, a cartoonist, recently published a caricature on the Tunisian site ‘Haqaeq Online’ (Facts Online) depicting Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the head of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (NCA) and his first deputy, Meherzia Labidi.
Ben Jaafar’s caricature says: “We will have the most expensive Constitution in the world. It costs more than 100 billion.” Meherzia Labidi says: “Rejoice, we are staying.”
Lilya Halloul, a cartoonist, recently published a caricature on the Tunisian site ‘Haqaeq Online’ (Facts Online) depicting Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the head of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly (NCA) and his first deputy, Meherzia Labidi.
Ben Jaafar’s caricature says: “We will have the most expensive Constitution in the world. It costs more than 100 billion.” Meherzia Labidi says: “Rejoice, we are staying.”
The cartoon summarizes what most Tunisian people believe, namely that elected MPs in the NCA are the direct cause of the daily problems suffered by the people, especially economic problems.
From one proposed budget to the next, people have been waiting for a clearer vision and something to hope for. However, the budgets submitted after the revolution to the council have only made economic matters bleaker and MPs are the ones to take the blame.
A prime example is the 2014 draft state budget, which allocated a new budget for the NCA—the primary function of the NCA is to draft the Constitution—with an increase of approximately 600 thousand dinars (about US $250, 000).
The amounts allocated for the NCA since 2011 have been estimated at 115 million dinars (roughly US $68,000,000).
The cost is too high
Sami Elramadi, a financial expert and the head of the Tunisian Association for Financial Transparency, said the cost of each chapter would be around 788 thousand dinars (US $476,651), while in March 2013, it was estimated at 597 thousand dinars (US $476,651), knowing that the Constitution would contain 146 chapters.
If we calculate the total amounts allocated for the National Constituent Assembly since it commenced its work in May 2011 until the month of January 2014—including supplementary budgets allocated to it to face the high wages, grants, transport expenses, and other high expenditures of the council— the figure reaches 74 million dinars and thus the total cost of the Constituent Assembly would be 115 million dinars.
According to the Tunisian Institute of Statistics, the number of unemployed people has reached 653,000, or 16.2 per cent. Moreover, according to the figures released by the same institute, the poverty rate has reached 15.5 per cent, which is equal to 1.8 million jobless people out of a population of 11 million. In addition to these scary figures, the latest numbers on extreme poverty released by the institute reveal that 4.6 percent of the Tunisian population lives under extreme poverty.
Observers, especially legal experts and some politicians such as Qays Saeed, a professor of constitutional law, believe that the drafting of the Constitution process has taken too long.
In this context, it is important to note that this figure is subject to further increases if conflicts continue to prevail and if the drafting of the Constitution’s process is disrupted.
Saeed added that the issue of the Constitution has become a political issue par excellence. “For today’s politicians, the main task of the Constitution is to find justifications for the continued presence of those who are ruling the country in power,” he explained.
Are MPs earning too much?
The presidency of the NCA, in a statement issued in December 2013, stressed that the council would continue to perform its duties after the finalization of the Constitution, in exercising the legislative power and completing basic laws, until a new parliament is elected, as stipulated in the provisional organization of public authority.
The increase in taxes, which were approved by the Ministry of Finance and by the MPs in the 2014 budget, led to many popular uprisings in a number of the Tunisian cities. Grants and privileges obtained by the current MPs are considered a source of suspicion.
The head of the council and his deputy are accused of earning high wages and most of the MPs are also accused of enjoying many privileges. In 2012, the Administrative Court annulled a decision by the President of the Council, which stipulated an increase in his wage and privilege.
In contrast, the 1959 Constitution was the first Tunisian Constitution after independence. It was finalized by a Constituent Assembly which convened for more than three years to finalize it, but at that time, the peoples’ MPs were un-paid volunteers.
On the other hand, Mustapha Ben Jaafar, the President of the National Constituent Assembly, said that the draft constitution, with the consensuses made, has become a good draft, as acknowledged by specialists “After introducing the amendments, it will become one of the best constitutions of the world.”
Ahmed Najib Chebbi, the head of the supreme political body of the Republican Party, congratulated the Tunisian people on the gains contained in the new constitution in the field of rights and freedoms, as well as with respect to the separation of powers.
Chebbi said that the Constitution has given Tunisia everything that it deserves. “Disagreements during the plenary sessions, as of the beginning of the discussions until the ratification of the different chapters of the constitution, as minor issues which cannot affect the content.”
