Update :
A strike took place and roads have been cut since yesterday, September 28 in El Hamma in Gabès. According to Mohsen Thlibi, one of the leaders of this strike and member of the association “Invest in El Hamma”, “there is great anger on the side of the inhabitants who feel marginalized”.
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Post by Yas Sine.
After the exchange of accusations between European Cancer Centers and the Tunisian Ministry of Health, the controversy around the hospital project specializing in oncology in El Hamma, in the governorate of Gabès, takes on significant proportions.
The deputy Habib Khedher, from the same region, renewed his support for the project, expressly asking for clarification from the government of Mehdi Jomaâ.
“It was the ministry that gave its agreement in principle and not the Minister …”
“I participated in the contribution of this project which was studied by the Ali Laârayedh government. As a deputy for the governorate of Gabès who defends any project that can help the development of the region, we received, on December 11, 2013, the agreement in principle from the Ministry of Health, “he said. “I say of the ministry and not of the Minister or the Secretary of State,” he said, in a declaration on the radio Oasis FM (Gabès), referring to the principle of “continuity of the State”.
In this same declaration to Oasis FM, Mr. Kedher recalled that the genesis of this project dates back months, “that it was first of all an idea, at the initiative of one of the investors of the region” a certain Mark Keller (who would be called in real Riadh Khedher), and that it began to materialize from a meeting with Amor Chahbani, governor of Gabès.
“A commission bringing together all the ministries concerned, tourism, health, agriculture, development, investments, etc. and the Central Bank of Tunisia, in the presence of investors carrying the project, was held in January. They were asked to get involved in writing, which was done, “he added.
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Post by حركة النهضة بالحامة.
The “put side” project
Mr. Khedher specifies that he personally relaunched the State Secretariat for Development by asking if there were still conditions to be satisfied on the part of investors. ” No. We just have to wait for the meeting of the Higher Projects Commission, they were answered, “reports the Nahdhaoui deputy.
“On April 9, I took advantage of the celebration of the Martyrs Festival in Sejoumi to approach this subject with the Minister of Health (Mohamed Salah Ben Ammar), the Secretary of State for Development and the Secretary of State to the Presidency of the Government responsible for Economic Affairs (Nidhal Ouerfelli). I told them that it is an important project for the region and asked them if they are opposed. No, they replied, ”says the MP on Oasis FM radio.
Habib Khedher adds that the commission should meet in summer but was postponed following terrorist attacks. He declares that he was surprised to note that the meeting of the Higher Projects Commission, held on August 22, classified the project as a “normal” project, which means that this will require more time than expected to start it.
“We are waiting for a justification for refusals”
“Until today, we are expecting a clear justification for this decision knowing that it is at the request of the government that this project was categorized” a major project “,” explains the deputy.
For “European Cancer Centers”, these are “personal interests that blocked and flouted the democratic process”, he denounces in an open letter to the head of government Mehdi Jomaâ
No reaction from the Jomaâ government in the face of corruption charges
According to the investor, “this decision, which is not motivated by any argument, is the consequence of the veto of the Minister of Public Health, Mohamed Salah Ben Ammar, the only member of the Higher Commission of the major projects to oppose the project”.
“After these accusations of corruption and nepotism, the government should have reacted and officially respond to these accusations knowing that the current pre -electoral context does not lend this kind of controversy,” said Khedher to the Tunisian authorities. “In other circumstances, we could have asked for the hearing of the Minister of Health and the Head of Government to hear,” said the deputy.
Today, the Vice-President of European Cancer Centers has arrived in Tunisia. The case, which has still not been debated in public, remains opaque, pending the response of the government’s presidency.