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            Ahead of Elections, a Prescription for 'Saving' Tunisia

   by Lisa Bryant

   Later this year, Tunisia holds elections which will be closely watched
   around the world. The North African country's 2011 revolution helped
   inspire the larger Arab uprisings. Today many hope it will also spread
   the seeds for Arab democracies.

   One man will not be running in the polls but what he says gets plenty
   of attention. Businessman and philanthropist Lotfi Maktouf and his
   prescriptions for "Saving Tunisia."

   It's been a year since Lotfi Maktouf published Sauver la Tunisie, or
   Save Tunisia, but the headline-grabbing book - and its author - are
   still in the news. An international businessman based in Monaco,
   Maktouf seems a long way from his homeland. But his assessment of
   post-revolution Tunisia - what's gone wrong and what's needed for it to
   go right - has resonated in the North African country and abroad.

   "Let me put it this way. I'm optimistic for my country for the
   medium-to-long term. I'm not clear about what's cooking these days. I
   don't know [if] the technocratic government is doing anything...the
   curse for this transition government is that it didn't do [much for]
   the long term, but it didn't do [much for] the short term," said
   Maktouf.

   Maktouf's largely critical assessment of Tunisia's interim government
   is only one part of what he addresses. The book examines the legacy of
   post-independence president Habib Bourguiba and dictator Zine
   el-Abidine Ben Ali, who was toppled in a January revolution three years
   ago.

   He's no fan of the Islamist Ennahda party that has dominated
   post-revolutionary politics - and, he believes, has nothing to do with
   Tunisia's cultural fabric. He thinks no party has an economic blueprint
   for getting Tunisia back on its feet. And just a few months before his
   country holds legislative and presidential elections, Maktouf is
   staying carefully apolitical.

   "I'm not interested in backing anyone, of course. They all kept hitting
   on us - Ennahda, Nidaa Tounis [a secular party]... I met all these
   leaders because they solicited me to be part of the government, they
   offered me the position of governor of the central bank and later the
   position of minister of finance," he said. "I nicely declined and said,
   'you know, my focus is somewhere else.'"

   Maktouf's focus is on his Almadanya foundation, which he started
   shortly after Tunisia's revolution. But not before he made a
   reconnaissance visit to a country he left more than 35 years ago.

   "I travelled there, four days a week, for four months, all over the
   country....I visited everywhere, especially areas which were totally
   forgotten by the old regime..and I listened. And I learned so much
   about this beautiful country and I learned what being a Tunisian
   meant," said Maktouf.

   Almadanya focuses on Tunisia's environment, culture, and especially on
   education. That was Maktouf's own ticket out of a poor home in the
   coastal town of Sousse. He earned law degrees at the Sorbonne in France
   and Harvard in the United States.  He worked on Wall Street and for the
   International Monetary Fund before returning to Europe.

   "I'm a firm believer in the American dream idea - I've lived it. I come
   from a very poor background; I ended up at Harvard. I don't want to
   brag about myself...there are many other people who did even better
   than me. All I'm saying is that it's possible. How is it possible? Hard
   work," he said.

   Along with Tunisians, Maktouf is sharing that message with immigrant
   kids in France's working class suburbs, where he is invited to
   participate in seminars.  He's also started working on another book -
   drawing lessons about the wider Arab uprising. He believes democracy
   starts at the grassroots. And, he hopes, it will take hold in
   Tunisia.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/ahead-of-elections-a-prescription-for
   -saving-tunisia/2412628.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/ahead-of-elections-a-prescription-for-saving-tunisia/2412628.html