Speaking to Tunisie Numérique, the dean of the Order of Engineers Kamel Sahnoun revealed that 39 thousand engineers have departed the country during the past 6 years according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics (INS). According to him, 6,500 engineers leave the country every year, equal to the migration of 20 Tunisian skills every day.
“The stunning image of the 20 anesthesiologists who left Tunisia echoes the plight of engineers every day,” he said. Kamel Sahnoun confirmed that each experienced engineer costs the state 100 thousand dinars before leaving Tunisia for other destinations including France, Canada and the United States.
He clarified that engineers leave Tunisian territory because their professional and moral rights are not secured. “During the 1970s and 1980s, Tunisian administrations and technical companies such as STEG and SONEDE were supervised and chaired by engineers. Now, this is no longer the case and this, because of the bureaucracy. Indeed, the Tunisian administration has not developed because of the development strategy set in place,” he said.
Our speaker examined the protest movements that were organized by professionals in the sector for 2 and a half months, recollecting that the former government did not respond favourably to their demands. He even said that the striking engineers were harassed. “To solve the problem, the Order of Engineers operated on the development of a project for the creation of a group of engineering sciences based on a development strategy based on the knowledge economy” adds the same source revealing that political will is important to end bureaucracy.
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