Tunisian President Saied sacks first female PM Najla Bouden

Tunisia’s president Kais Saied has fired the country’s prime minister Najla Bouden Romdhane, who was the Arab League’s first female prime minister.

Mr Saied immediately replaced her with a former senior Central Bank executive, Ahmed Hachani, whom he asked to “overcome colossal challenges”.

A brief statement from the presidential office late Tuesday did not give reasons for the dismissal of Najla Bouden Romdhane.

But several local media highlighted President Saied’s displeasure with a number of shortages in the country, particularly of bread in state-subsidized bakeries.

Najla Bouden, is the first woman to lead a government in Tunisia.

The new head of government was an executive at the Central Bank, and studied at the Faculty of Law of the University of Tunis where Kais Saied taught constitutional law, said the person concerned on Facebook.

Mr Hachani, completely unknown to the general public, was immediately sworn in before President Saied, according to the video from the presidency.

Several discussions have taken place recently inside the government and between the president and ministers to discuss the subject of subsidized bread shortages in several locations. According to the media, Mr Saied, who recently stated that “bread is a red line for Tunisians,” fears a replay of the 1984 bread riots, which killed 150 people.

Faced with a low-wage economy since the 1970s, Tunisia has centralized the acquisition of a significant number of basic products (flour, sugar, semolina, coffee, cooking oil) before reinjecting them into the market at inexpensive prices.