Une femme de Béjaïa interpelle le président de la République

A woman from Béjaïa calls on the President of the Republic

Feeling like a victim of a “hogra”

The editorial staff of La Nouvelle République received an unprecedented and very moving telephone communication which requires special attention. On the line, Ms. Béchar Fatsiha, who, according to her voice, seems old, tired and who burst into tears at the start of our conversation. “Please, gentlemen journalists, I am the victim of a great “hogra”, I have been humiliated in my country, report it to Mr. President of the Republic.” In fact, we had difficulty understanding the request of the lady who spoke softly and who was crying at the same time. Despite our efforts, we were unable to calm our interlocutor during this first telephone conversation. All we understood is that the lady in question wanted, through the newspaper, to alert and challenge the President of the Republic about the suffering to which she is subject. “I want the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid, to know that the authorities of Béjaïa attacked me only because I contacted him by letter asking him to intervene in my case.”
Our interlocutor continued to explain her setbacks to us but without managing to hold back her tears and her emotions. After listening attentively to Ms. Bechar Fatsiha’s remarks, she also asked us to help her obtain a meeting with the Minister of the Interior. We still managed to obtain the contact details of this lady and we offered to send us a letter and accompany it with documents, whether by Fax or Email from the newspaper. In just a few minutes, we received more than ten documents including correspondence from the Presidency of the Republic. We also received a video which shows the lady in question lying on a bed with tubes in her nose, probably during an infusion session. After reading the various documents, we understood that it was a housing problem. The lady in question was included on the list of rehousing beneficiaries as part of the so-called operation, resorption of precarious housing “RHP” in the wilaya of Béjaïa. This lady would have lived in these slums for almost 25 years and the authorities decided to demolish them and relocate the inhabitants of this city to new housing. All the residents identified as part of this operation were rehoused with the exception of this lady who appeared on the list of beneficiaries. The lady from Béjaïa explained in her letter that during the distribution of the keys to the new accommodation, she was abroad for treatment. She also explained that she tried to return to Algeria to take the keys to the accommodation but without result. This period coincided with the Covid-19 tragedy where transport was blocked around the world. The lady’s assertions were confirmed by the secretary general of the daïra of Béjaïa. The latter also admitted that the daïra was the recipient of a letter sent by the wilaya (Cabinet) accompanied by correspondence from the Presidency of the Republic. Our interlocutor did not wish to answer our questions without the authorization of the head of the daïra.

The daïra services would have refused to apply the directives of the Presidency of the Republic
According to the statements of the lady in question, the authorities of the wilaya of Béjaïa and especially the daïra refused to apply the directives of the Presidency of the Republic ordering them to take charge of her case.
To find out more on this subject, we have repeatedly tried to contact the wali of Béjaïa, the head of the Cabinet, the secretary general but without result. We also insisted for more than a week to contact the head of daïra but in vain. Each time, the secretary tells us that the head of the daïra is busy, that she cannot be reached and that her office is under construction, etc. The secretary of the head of daïra also did not fail to declare that her first manager spares no effort to help, according to her, people in difficulty.
After several phone calls, we understood that the head of the daïra would have refused to speak on this subject. During our last conversation, the secretary of the head of daïra asked us to stay online so that she could put us in touch, either with the head of this institution, or with the secretary general.
A few minutes later, the secretary came back on the phone to tell us the following: “I cannot reach either the head of the daïra or the general secretary.” We explained to the secretary to leave a message to the two officials that we want to have an answer to our question namely: “Why were the directives of the Presidency of the Republic not taken into account?” We also informed the latter that for lack of receiving a response, we will give our paper in the newspaper without the opinion of those responsible for the daïra of Béjaïa. This state of affairs would not have pleased the secretary of the head of the daïra who indicated that, according to her, the daïra did its job before cutting off the telephone. We still tried to contact our interlocutor but she refused to pick up the phone. In short, only the president of the Wilaya Popular Assembly (P/APW) agreed to answer our questions. The latter instructed his secretariat to put him in touch with the management of the newspaper. “I am the representative of the citizens of the wilaya of Béjaïa but I am not the decision-maker who is none other than the administration. All I can do is to follow up with the wali by post on this lady’s case.
We have given here the declarations of the president of the APW of Béjaïa. We will come back to this.
Moncef Redha