Driss Guiga

Driss Guiga
Driss Guiga in the 1970s
Born	(1924-10-21) 21 October 1924 (age 92) Testour, Tunisia
Nationality	Tunisian
Occupation	Politician
Known for	Minister of the Interior

Driss Guiga (born 21 October 1924) is a Tunisian lawyer and politician who was Minister of Health, Minister of Education and then Minister of the Interior for four years during the later part of the Habib Bourguiba regime.

Driss Guiga was born on 21 August 1924. His birthplace was Testour, a village in the northwest of Tunisia where his father was a teacher. He joined the national movement when he was 14 and was a student at Sadiki College in Tunis. The French colonial authorities arrested his teacher, Ali Belhaouane, on 8 April 1938. Belhaouane was responsible for the youth organization of the Neo Destour nationalist party, which had been founded four years earlier. A general strike followed, and the college was closed for two months. Guiga joined a secret cell of the party, met Habib Bourguiba and became a "bourguibiste."

Guiga studied law and history at the University of Algiers (1944–47), where he met his future wife Chacha, a painter. They would have four children. He then enrolled at the Law Faculty of Paris, where he obtained a diploma in civil law in 1949. After returning to Tunis he joined the firm of his uncle, Bahri Guiga, a lawyer and politician. He practiced Law from 1948 to 1952. He also wrote for the journal Mission created by Hedi Amara Nouira. He was arrested in 1952 and spent seven months in prison. In 1952 Guiga was appointed Head of the Office of the Minister of Public Health.

After Tunisia became independent in 1956 Guiga was appointed in turn secretary general of the National Assembly, head of Regional Government and General Director of Security at the Interior Ministry. He left this last position after the plot against the former president in 1962, which his service did not foresee. From 1963 to 1969 he was General Commissioner of Tourism. He was State Secretary for Public Health and Social Affairs in 1969, then Minister of Public Health (1969). Guiga was appointed Minister of Education in 1973 after the general strike against the Arabization program advocated by Mohammed Mzali. He succeeded Mzali as Minister of Education in March 1973. He was uninterested in reform, saying in a press interview that the more important task was to stabilize and control the education system. The goal of providing universal primary education had been abandoned by October 1973, and the emphasis was now on improving quality. Guiga wanted to increase the number of teachers, introduce common standards and define career paths for teachers.