Algeria Is Boiling… Ministers In The Eye Of The Storm!

The ongoing protests in some sectors, as well as the statements made by some ministers, have put the current government on the red line. Many of its ministries have failed to contain the unabated anger that is jolting their sectors, especially those of health and education.

The current protests besetting the health and education sectors, have witnessed more escalation, and are a threat to overall stability. 

Only yesterday, hundreds of striking resident doctors marched towards the central post office in the heart of the capital, defying the authorities’ long-standing decision to ban demonstrations in the streets of Algiers.

However, the friction of the striking doctors with the police yesterday passed off peacefully, contrary to what happened the previous times, but the exacerbation of the situation as it is, threatens to become what everyone does not wish, and this also applies to the education sector, which lives in turn on the boiling point as the Government has been unable so far to respond to their grievances or come up with compromises.

What is happening in the “house” of ministers Nouria Ben Ghabrit, and Mokhtar Hezballaoui, is also occurring in the “houses” of other ministers such as Taher Hadjar (Higher Education), Mohamed Benmeradi (trade), Abdelghani Zaalane (Transport and Public Works), and Abdelwahid Temmar (housing), but this woeful situation sharply varies from sector to sector.

The public sector is suffering from a chronic sluggishness of the delivery of dozens of vital projects put off to later years, in addition to the crisis pertaining to newly-hiked transport prices, while the trade sector is in turn destabilized due to numerous products and materials prohibited from import, as well as the manipulation of the quality of some subsidized commodities such as baggy milk, which is still scarce on the national market.

In this line, the minister of finance surprisingly announced of late from Dubai, UAE, the Government’s intention to gradually scrap the state’s support for some of the large consumption subsidized items, thus raising bewildering questions. 

The statement came in response to IMF Director-General Christine Lagarde’s call on Arab countries to control government spending by lifting subsidies on consumer goods … Accordingly, Raouya’s statement seems to be completely lacking in discretion, observers say.

The statement of the Minister of Finance could increase the pouring of oil on the fire of the inflamed social front. Was he aware of the seriousness of his statement at a time when the Government is facing problems that it has so far been unable to confront? 

Observers wondered what was then the finance minister’s real intention when he revealed the Government’s intention to back away from the policy of social support, which has been an inherited asset since the country’s independence?