De g à d : M. Mohammed Boussaid, M. Aziz Akhannouch, M. Moulay Hafid Elalamy.
With the recent royal appointments that have been awaited for several weeks, the El Othmani government is finally complete.
This is indeed good news for those who felt that the period of hiatus between the spectacular sacking of three ministers and a deputy minister in October 2017 and their replacement in mid-January was beginning to feel like an eternity.
The posts and responsibilities, discharged until now by interim ministers who already had their hands full with their own portfolios, will now be fully assumed by newly appointed ministers who, with lessons learnt from the recent past, will now know that accountability ‘comes with the territory’.
Yes, but…
If the truth be told, in all frankness, it must be admitted that these new ministers, who cannot be criticised until we see them in action, leave us with a sense of dissatisfaction, of unfinished business…
This feeling does not stem from their personalities or their careers to date but from their ‘trademarks’. With the exception of the Deputy Minister of African Affairs who hails from the private sector and is apolitical, the other ministers, such as the Minister of Housing and the Minister of Health, bear the stamp of the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) party while the Minister of Education and the Secretary of State for Vocational Training hail from the Popular Movement (MP) party.
Putting aside the remark that the PPS could have come up with an urban designer for the post previously occupied by Mr Nabil Benabdallah and a healthcare professional to replace Dr Houcine El Ouardi, the choices made suggest that party loyalists have been given priority over experts…
And therein lies the rub…
While there is absolutely no question here of criticising or disputing the political edifice upon which the El Othmani cabinet has been built nor of rejecting the challenge of having to piece together a governmental team drawn from a parliamentary coalition, the choices made, in terms of the human resources available as ‘potential ministers’, could have been much better.
This remark, in fact, does not only apply to the PPS and the MP but to all the other parties which have joined the government.
Without question, these are political parties with an essential role to play in the nation’s democratic edifice, clearly and elaborately defined by the constitution, and which are charged with filling the ministerial posts as members of the majority coalition.
Without question, theirs is a vital prerogative, as part of a traditional process, that of putting forward a number of candidates for a post, from whom will be chosen the minister appointed by the Sovereign.
However, these obligations, customs, traditions even, are not incompatible with possessing the requisite qualities to be able to fulfil important ministerial duties as best as possible…
When we now analyse the profiles of the various members of El Othmani’s government, it must be acknowledged that very few of them have been chosen for their recognised expertise with regard to the ministerial portfolios assigned to them.
Barring a few exceptions, they are mostly party leaders or members of their inner circle, party loyalists, persons to whom the party is indebted and wishes to reward, if not regional leaders or factional heads.
When one analyses the ‘final roll call’ of our current ministers, the results of this arrangement are particularly striking.
It is also interesting to note that the vast majority of them are generally unknown to the general public and that many of them stand out by the sheer insignificance or, in the very least, for their discretion…
An awesome trio
But, above all, it is clear that only three or four personalities stand head and shoulders above the pack.
Mr Akhannouch at Agriculture, Mr Elalamy at Trade and Industry (etc.) and Mr Boussaid at Economy and Finance are among the most well known because they are the most active, the most dynamic and the most effective.
This critique is intended to be, if not entirely objective, then at least honest and is of course governed by the importance of the responsibilities entrusted to them.
These three ministers manage what are unquestionably vital departments but, as can be clearly seen from their work, they don’t let up for a single moment.
Can the same be said about the others, all the others, except perhaps the head of the government who, on account of his role as coordinator, is also very much in demand?
And what is striking, when reflecting on the capabilities and the knowledge that these three “super ministers” have of the portfolios entrusted to them, is that the political or party veneer of Messrs Akhannouch, Elalamy and Boussaid, however real it may be, has only recently be applied.
The first two, who hail from the private sector, were successful businessmen with grassroots experience prior to taking up public office. They then became members of a political party ‘to fight for the cause’!
The third, who began his career in banking, worked as a senior bureaucrat before earning his stripes as a technocrat minister and then finally signed up under the RNI banner.
It is quite clear that these officials have had a great deal of practical experience of the business world prior to launching their political careers.
But the others, practically all of them, are politicians, bureaucrats, (senior or mid-ranking), teachers, apparatchiks even, recruited and chosen for this purpose, to whom ministerial responsibilities have been entrusted.
This is why, to ensure genuine governmental efficiency, to ensure that ministerial departments function properly, national political parties will perhaps have to ‘put the horse before the cart’!
Fahd YATA
Original article : https://lnt.ma/gouvernement-y-a-ministres-ministres/
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