PM Ouyahia’s Political Messages In His Speech Before The MPs

Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia used the opportunity to expound his government’s plan of action to the deputies of the Lower Chamber of Parliament to convey political messages in his speech, which was overshadowed by his endeavor to try to dispel the Algerians’ fears of a lingering economic downturn.

The first message, which PM Ouyahia was keen to launch, was directed at the political parties that have worked in recent weeks to demand the activation of Article 102 of the Constitution. 

The Premier described these parties as “policy traders, who seek to use the woeful conditions the country is going through, to achieve political goals”, as he put it.

“The best answer to the advocates of chronic instability and those who are waiting for the solution of the chaos,” he said, is “the solid cohesion” that united the Algerians, he said, behind President Bouteflika’s program.

PM Ouyahia wanted by departing from his written speech to remind those whom he  referred as the minority that they should obey the will of the majority, in accordance with the outcome of the 2014 elections, which, as it is well known, was the continuation of President Bouteflika in his presidential rostrum for a fourth term. 

The prime minister has repeatedly striven to convince the deputies and the Algerian citizens behind them that the current crisis in the country is not political, as some opposition parties argue, but is purely economic, as it was caused by the steep decline in world oil prices and prompting a negative impact on the financial performance of the state, while pointing out that the solutions initiated by the government in this regard, will  lessen its  nefarious effects on the national economy and on all the Algerians.

In order to bridge the gap between the two parties (the government and the opposition in all its different shades), Mr. Ahmed Ouyahia continued to extend his hand to the various parties engaged in the political process, through a dialogue that includes all parties as long as it is in the sole interest of the country, as he put it.

Premier Ouyahia is aiming for this initiative according to observers, by throwing the ball in court of the opposition parties, which has already expressed its rejection of such claims, and then embarrassed the authorities in front of the national public opinion by refusing to engage in the path of dialogue, and the latter held them responsible for the political tension between the various parties, thus freezing the reactivation of the overall political process.

The other salient point at which the prime minister stopped over was designed to dispel the fears of many Algerians, especially those concerned with the housing crisis, who harbored rosy dreams about the housing projects launched by the former housing minister and former prime minister, Abdelmadjid Tebboune. 

But the reassurance came quickly from the new prime minister, who stressed that the state was committed to its citizens regarding such a sensitive file.

Moreover, PM Ouyahia hinted implicitly that what the former housing minister had launched was merely an embodiment of the President Bouteflika’s clear recommendations and his national development programs which have extended over a period of about two decades.