Mohamed Abbou, former Tunisian minister Tunis – Azhar Al-Jarboui Mohamed Abbou, former Tunisian minister of administrative reform and secretary general of the Congress for the Republic Party, Tunisian President Marzouki’s party, told Arabstoday that the president refused to participate in the second national conference for his party out of a belief that the presidency must remain at an equal distance from all political parties. Abbou also viewed that failing to open the sensitive corruption files and the prosecution of Ayoub Massoudi, former advisor to the Tunisian president for charges of insulting the military institution were major political mistakes for the Tunisian government. He stressed that the leadership of the Congress for the Republic supports the liberation and struggle of the Syrian people, calling to condemn any one who supports Bashar al-Assad and his regime. Arabsoday: You are holding your second national conference, what are the most prominent work plans and messages you wish to address through it? Abbou: we had held a national council on May 12 and 13 2012 when I was elected Secretary General temporarily to fill the void at the time. As a sign that the problems and rifts in the party have ended, we had to pass to the second national conference directly to prove that we have completely parted with the previous stage and entered into a new stage of structured and organised political work. The conference, which continues till the August 26, comes in this context. The work plan will be to elect a secretary general, a political bureau and figures of the national council in addition to the organisation and financial committees. We also plan to review the internal system which is suffering a number of defects. We believe that a structure must determine the party politics, as opposed to the secretary general or the political bureau, so we decided that it [the structure] must be broader, more inclusive and representative and agreed on a national conference. This structure would be responsible for determining the major lines of the party’s policies and monitoring the political bureau’s application of these policies so it would have the authority to impeach members, even the secretary general. It is expected to comprise more than 100 members, 40 of whom are elected. General party regulations will also be discussed parallel to the political and development regulations and conference activities which are supposed to end with a concluding statement evaluating our participation in government. AT: you had formerly stated that Dr Moncef al-Marzouki will be the party’s only candidate for the coming presidential election? Abbou: No, I didn’t give such a statement and sadly we have come to suffer a major problem in shortening statements in a way that distorts the truth. I didn’t say he was the only candidate, I said that we must wait for the constitutions as it would determine the political system and whether the president will be elected directly by the people or not. At that point, the party’s structures would determine a candidate. My personal view is that Dr Moncef Marzouki would be the party candidate but we haven’t decided yet. Arabstoday: What are the reasons for the conflict inside the party when other parties like the Ennahda Movement remained intact despite the shakes and storms witnessed? MA: Undoubtedly, the January 14 revolution imposed a new reality that we had to cope with. But some were not able to cope with it, in addition to personal disagreements which played a negative part. In any case, we wish the best for whoever left us, on top of them Abdel Raouf al-Ayadi. And I believe that we have trespassed these hardships and are in the direction of a new stop of political, democratic, structured work and a modern way of operation. AT: Did you invite people who resigned from the party? MA: Initially, we invited Abdel Raouf al-Ayadi and we have no idea whether he will come or not, in addition to Tunisian rights activists and political figures like sheikh Rashid Ghannoushi who heads Ennahda Movement, Mustapha Ben Jaafar head of the National Constituent Assembly and Hama al-Hamami who is leader of the Communist Workers’ Party AT: President Marzouki, former secretary general of the party, will he attend? MA: Dr Moncef Marzouki preferred not to participate but a work under his name will be read at the conference and it seems that he thought it safer to remain at an equal distance from all parties, including his party. AT: if we speak in terms of loss and gain, what did you gain from entering into the ruling coalition in Tunisia? MA: first, what we won was our commitment to our duty toward this country. This is what we asserted before, that our homeland’s interests come before party gains but we are not certain if there were political benefits for the party, our evaluation will be in the concluding statement of the conference. We definitely provoked part of the public opinion which is annoyed at the government who exaggerated to a great extent because the government is not able to employ all the unemployed. But we don’t deny that the government had to speed up the reform to satisfy the people and meet their lawful demands. AT: what is your response to some who describe you as “Nahda 2”, and accuses you of subordination to them? MA: Whoever said these accusations is responsible for them. All we ask for is a little reasonability and objectivity in criticism. It is obvious to everyone that we are different from Ennahda in many issues practically, intellectually and ideologically. Although we are working together in a coalition to lead the country at this stage according to a coordinated project, we are working independently and confidently. And I don’t think we are impressed with whatever political side to the extent of becoming subordinate to them. Here I reaffirm that we are not working according to opportunist rules and narrow interests. That’s why we don’t believe that any political side can control us or direct us according to their desires or interests or under any consideration. AT: If we go back in time to the date of the elections on October 23 2011, would you form a coalition with Ennahda again? MA: Definitely, but this time we would write down the agreement and have it signed by everyone. AT: What is the real reason behind your resignation from your post as minister of administrative reform and what are the most pervasively corrupt sectors? MA: I don’t think there is any glossing over corruption but the major sin is that they didn’t carry out the needed procedures to counter corruption, i.e. questioning and setting special mechanisms concerning administrative oversight that would end the road for corruption presently and in the future because corruption will continue in the future if we continue in this pattern. As for the direct reason of my resignation it is the failure to keep a former agreement related to preventing men from supervising an independent committee in the ministry in addition to refusing to develop the Administrative Oversight Agency and refusing to open very sensitive files. AT: What is your opinion regarding the return of some of the affiliates of the ousted president to sensitive positions in the country? MA: We said that the files of all those who belonged to the ousted president’s party must be reviewed before any decision is taken and question the corrupt elements through the judiciary. It is also logical that to preserve the revolution, they shouldn’t be on top of sensitive positions in the country. AT: Are we before a conflict between three presidencies? MA: Certainly. This is the price of democracy which was not there under the Ben Ali dictatorship. AT: Which political system does your party support? MA: For Tunisia in the future, we see a political system where the president and the prime minister share authority, with the president elected directly by the people enjoying real authorities concerning defence, foreign relations and the authority to propose laws. The authority to dissolve parliament is also supposed to return to the president. AT: Did President Marzouki make a mistake when he accepted a presidency with limited authorities? MA: First, I must clarify that Dr. Marzouki did not choose alone but we accepted with him in view of a choice that wasn’t easy. Yet this is what we were able to reach within negotiations and we have tolerated much outbidding and criticism. We were choosing between exiting or accepting specific authorities but we decided to be part of the rule for the interest of the country. AT: Do you think the image of the presidency was shaken especially following the extradition of al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, the last prime minister under Gaddafi? MA: I don’t think surrendering a criminal wanted for justice is the reason, but I believe that the image of a dictator president with an iron fist has become deep-rooted in the culture and subconscious of the Tunisian people. But now that democracy has said its word and opened the door for criticism and freedom, many trespassed the limit of freedom granted by the revolution to insults and imprudence. That’s why we insist on establishing the audio visual committee to defend journalism ethics and the mechanisms and rules of the profession, but at the same time, the gates must remain open for constructive criticism and freedom of expression. At the mention of it, the Congress Party bloc in the Constituent Assembly proposed a day ago a draft law for managing media freedom to substitute the 115 decree to manage the sector in a way that rewards hard workers and penalises the guilty.  AT: How do you view the case of former president’s advisor Ayoub Massoudi who is currently prosecuted for charges of insulting the military institution on a background of accusing the Tunisian Army Chief of Staff General Rashid Ammar and the Minister of Defence of high treason for ignoring the president and failing to inform him of the extradition of al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi?  MA: In my view, Ayoub al-Massoudi will not enter prison and will not see its rats and he knows the truth well. Concerning his statements around the military institution, they are correct and he shouldn’t have been prosecuted over them. So I consider it a major political mistake from the ministry of defence that no politician can make. The statements are true because the Minister of National Defence Abdel Karim al-Zubaidi and the Tunisian Chief of Staff Rashid Ammar were present with President Marzouki at the time and did not inform him of surrendering al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi.  So I think this issue should have been ignored and we should have turned to the priorities of the people and resuming the revolution's goals.  AT: How do you respond to Ayoub al-Masaoudi’s statement that President Marzouki is a “toy” in the hands of Imed al-Daymi, the head of his divan office?  MA: I can affirm to you that we have recordings of Ayoub glorifying Imed al-Daymi, as he was one of Daymi’s avid supporters. I hope he understands that politics is a responsibility and not just leadership. Obviously he was trying to attract a certain stream and appear as the revolutionary hero. What I can confirm is that he won’t be imprisoned as I read the situation. I even found out that the prime minister was not aware of the issue and he is really disturbed by it. The judiciary has no interest in this case, and Massoudi’s conviction would only confirm his words.   I think we issued a statement condemning the prosecution of Massoudi for his statements although we had taken a decision to freeze his membership in the Congress Party but he reviled it.AT: At the mention of freezing, you froze the membership of Taher Hmeila on the same day, isn’t this a loss for the party?  MA: It is true, [we froze his membership] on a background of a number of irresponsible statements by Taher Hmeila so I can only say that he is a kind person with a sense of humour and we hold deep love and appreciation for him. But politics needs responsibility and commitment more than a show in the media.  AT: What is your stance on the Syrian revolution, especially as we received information that you did not send invitations to the ambassadors of Iran, Russia and China for your national conference?  MA: Our stance is clear. Our duty toward the Syrian people is not much different from our duty toward Tunisia which we consider as part of us. Our belief in pan-Arab thought and dream of a union of free and liberated-from-tyranny Arab nations is no secret to anyone. It is doubtless then that we support the Syrian revolution uprising against the criminal Bashar al-Assad, so we believe that any entity that stands by the Syrian regime must be condemned.