Get out of the Kitchen, Mr Prime Minister. Noureddine Boutahar

When we reflect back on 2015 in Morocco and the news that topped front pages and dominated airwaves, the Prime Minister Benkirane’s policy emerges as one of the most notorious and contentious. It had been another year of distinction for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) boss who has taken unpopular and unfair decisions that squeezed the middle class and crippled the poor.
Benkirane’s stubbornness and dismissive attitude towards any opinions contrary to his own earned him the antipathy and disapproval of the people whose living standards have been deteriorated by his harmful so-called reforms. Each of these reform measures is another turn of the screw. Common examples of these uplifts include food staples price increases, Compensation Fund amateurish reform, and the retirement age hike.
People dislike this government because it has failed to fulfill its election promises. It promised the moon but gave them misery instead. For example, the prices reached unprecedented high levels; unemployment and under-employment worsened and reached troubling levels (9.9% versus 9.2% in 2013); corruption is still seeping into every crevice of society; the system of education is still wallowing in mediocrity; healthcare system continues to rank among the lowest in quality and efficiency. And the government just looks on.
Another reason for people’s constant condemnation of this government stems from the fact that it is led by a party with an Islamic reference point presumed to abstain from worldly pleasures, goods, and possessions. However, nothing has been done to abolish parliamentary salaries and pensions, stop rentier economy privileges, reduce exorbitant salaries, allowances, and perks (cars, gas, accommodation, toll-free highway tickets…).
Here are two glaring instances that illustrate the government’s lack of commitment to lead by example: The “Two Francs scandal”, and “22 hours-a-day-work claim”. The ministers’ declarations, in both cases, show the obstinacy and aggressive refusal of government officials themselves to give up their illegal and illogical exorbitant perks, pensions, and pay let alone enacting reforms and laws binding upon everyone. Harry Truman once said that "No man can get rich in politics unless he's a crook. It cannot be done." Unfortunately, getting elected to parliament and getting nominated minister is a surefire way of getting rich in Morocco. Our Ministers and MPs get astronomically high salaries and end up with - usually early - fat and generous pensions. They are oblivious, or perhaps do not care, of the fact that real reform begins with the self. As Harry Truman, 33rd president of the United States, once again, said, “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves... self-discipline with all of them came first.” How long will it take official and senior position seekers in this country to understand that the office of a MP and Minister is a responsibility, not an honor or a high-paying job, which requires them to be selfless, and self-sacrificing?
This is not the government we voted for in 2011. The JDP has made a complete about-face and changed its ideals and goals. We voted for the ruling party because we wanted to spare our dear country instability and chaos and because its slogans were our dreams. Unfortunately, our dreams turned into a nightmare of continuous price hikes and unpopular decisions and ‘reforms’. We also discovered, too late, that the party had used religious rhetoric to win the sympathy of the general public so as to advance its agenda, which is no more than pleasing the deep state and staying in office for as long as possible. Were the JDP election promises mere Orwellian doublespeak?
I am steadfast in my belief that we will end up in the gutter if the party continues in office for a second term. If its unjust measures go on as planned by this government, we will work more and get paid less; we will pay more taxes, more fees, and higher bills; we will continue to get defective education and second rate healthcare; we will get poorer while the wealthy get wealthier. Even worse, the government will dig into our pockets every now and then to fix what the ‘untouchables’ messed up. Certainly, this government has reached a point where it does not care how the Moroccan people will find money to survive and pay their numerous bills as long as the elite bank accounts get fatter and their perks keep coming.
It seems to me that our political parties are mere proverbial “mouths” for the elite to eat garlic with. Meaning, our policy is engineered by people who view the citizens as nothing more than pieces on a board who must be controlled and manipulated; ergo, they should not eat their fill or live in comfort so as not to want more. This policy is in keeping with the proverbial “give them an inch and they'll take a mile”. The moneyed elite, who call the shots in this country, want the population to be poor and less educated so that they can better control and exploit it. The increase in the number of the poor and the underclass serves their interests at various levels.
In brief, this government is a far cry from our dreams and aspirations. It has cruelly disappointed us because, as Al Akhbar newspaper rightly said lately, it has fallen prey to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund structural adjustment ploys, and run roughshod over its election promises. So, I would like to give the Prime Minister an advice using Harry Truman’s words, “If you can’t stand the heat, gets out of the kitchen” because these so-called reforms do not augur well for the future wellbeing of the Moroccan poor and middle class.

A Government for … the Rich Noureddine Boutahar

The price of staple foods and services are skyrocketing in Morocco and the reasons behind these hikes are twofold: the government’s decision to reduce the Compensation Fund's subsidies in an amateurish manner, and the failure of some of the most vital sectors due to a lack of qualified persons in positions of authority. In both cases, it is largely the lower and middle classes who pay the price while the wealthy and privileged continue to win as before, right under the nose of the government.
Moroccan people pinned too much hope on this government for bold and genuine political and economic reforms such as the improvement of living conditions, the creation of jobs, and the provision of quality education. However, optimism quickly turned to disappointment and frustration as these hopes failed to materialize. They have remained, instead, electoral slogans and promises shelved until the next elections. The severity of the disappointment makes “the last of the Mohicans” among Moroccans put the Islamist Party on the same line as all the rest of the political parties that have ruled the country since ‘independence’. That’s why there is, now, a general feeling that Morocco keeps changing its administration but not its habits and mentality.
This government, for example, used clever speeches to delude people into believing that a reduction in the Compensation Fund's subsidies would bring prosperity and improve the living standards of all. Conversely, what the rich have surrendered to the government, they have gained from the people because they did not wait long before raising prices in order to make up for the lost subsidies. The end result, unfortunately, is that the poor are compensating for the rich, who are always in a win-win situation.
It is true that the Compensation Fund's subsidies weigh heavily on the state budget, but resorting to simple, ordinary, and easy solutions hurts rather than helps. In spite of its many shortcomings, the system helped Morocco avoid social tensions and protect the purchasing power of the population for decades. So, addressing the issue by digging deep into the pockets of the underprivileged is not only bad politics, but bad policy: it simply relocates the problem rather than solves it.
Unfortunately, despite the growing public frustration, the government stubbornly refuses to listen to the voice of the people as spoken through the media and in the street, choosing, instead, to engage in empty and fierce polemical shouting matches with anyone who opposes its policy. The Prime Minister has let no opportunity pass without reminding us that he “will not abandon this reform... whatever the price to be paid". Sadly, it is the Moroccan poor, not he, who will pay and suffer from the price hikes in staple foods, petrol, education, and more. Also, his ministers almost never miss an opportunity to seek out “devils and alligators” with which they can distract the public instead of keeping their nose to the grindstone and creating viable and cost-effective solutions to the problems they mentioned in their election manifesto.
Regrettably, the call for people to go back to the old ways of making bread and, indirectly, to boycott expensive products reflects the government’s inability to carry out real reforms. It follows from this logic that anyone who cannot afford something expensive should a fortiori compensate for it with a primitive alternative: for example, a Barraka (shack) will do if you cannot afford a house.
The other issue which testifies to the government’s impotence in the face of powerful bigwigs is its failure to prosecute those responsible for the bankruptcy or defective state of many government services and ‘offices’. Ironically, the government has decided instead to cut corners and bail them out with consumers’ money. As is custom for this government, it has called upon the weakest link in the chain, demanding that it pay for the failures of others who get away without repercussion in accordance with this government’s infamous motto of “Let bygones be bygones” when it comes to the wealthy and powerful. It is no surprise, then, that the rich who still enjoy their privileges, perks, and benefits are completely unruffled by these so-called reforms.
I’ll level with you, the current government’s policy is untenable, absurd, and illogical: it is fanning the fears it has come to assuage because it threw itself into the arms of the wealthy and powerful and shook off the hoi polloi upon whom it had ridden piggyback to power. Even worse is that it is serving the agenda of the powerful Bilderberg Group by establishing a society of rulers and serfs with no middle class so as to win the favor of the group and those that orbit it.
I hope, though, that this patchwork government will stop its populist lingua that butters no parsnip, redeem itself, and seek a way to lift the Moroccan people out of the dungeon of despair and hopelessness; otherwise, as Oscar Arias Sanchez said, "Out of poverty sprout social instability and desperation, which delegitimize governments that declare themselves democratic." God forbid this were to happen.

A Government by the Poor, for the Rich Noureddine Boutahar

The new government in Morocco seems to be trigger-happy these days. The sharpest ever increase in fuel price has loosened the members of government's tongues to say illogical and dogmatic things to explain the hike. They said the decision was 'bold', 'timely', and 'beneficial' to social groups in need!
A member of government, Mr. Boulif, said that the rise will not affect the poor because the poor don't have cars! When I heard the man, I congratulated myself, in petto, on belonging to the wealthy upper class. Another one, Mr. Khalfi, said that the increase is in favor of the needy!! Aristotle and Descartes would turn in their graves if they heard that logic; as if the needy don't use the means of transport and don't buy foodstuffs. A third, Mr. Prime Minister, advised people to use public transport because he wouldn't pay for their gas!! What a responsible speech this is!
These guys are dead wrong by all means. It stands to reason that the effects of any increase in the price of oil are automatically reflected on the prices of other staples. Raising fuel prices by about 20 percent for gasoline and 10 percent for diesel will cause food prices, transportation charges, accommodation costs and all other costs to soar. Also, the above laughable explanations show that the people's expectations and the rulers’ objectives are poles apart.
The decision to raise gas prices also came a week after the "Dignity Protest" in Casablanca. This means one of two things: either the government has lost focus because of its inability to score a single point since its appointment six months ago and has started to flounder, or that the government is sending out a message to the proletariat that any challenge will be met with an even tougher challenge. However, the consequences of this obstinate response have not been well assessed. Worsening the already weak purchasing ability of the people is fanning the flames of an already fragile social stability caused by mass unemployment and social, economic and political inequalities. The PJD must have forgotten that it is thanks to these popular protests that this government came to power before turning its back on those who gave it the piggyback ride.
People who voted for PJD have pinned so much hope on this party after years of suffering and neglect. However, the party seems bold against the poor and meek with the influential - the "demons" and "crocodiles" as Mr. Benkirane himself called them. This policy will certainly make the PJD party lose its stronghold and electorate capital. After its failure to net the "big fish," the government turned against the weakest link in the chain - the poor. For example, a few days after the government's failure to impose a modest wealth tax on the wealthiest, Benkirane's team announced this unpopular, shocking, and surprising rise in the gas prices; the highest in the history of Morocco.
One might wonder if the government has no other options. It can be countered that the government could have made a lot of money if it had put its heart in fighting corruption as it had promised during the election campaign. Billions of dirhames are lost through tax evasions; exorbitant salaries and exorbitant privileges like free housing, fuel and phone compensations - ministers and Gerets included ; ghost workers (90000 employee); The multi-million dollar music festival Mawazine which gobbles and squanders billions of Moroccan money; bailouts of companies which provide no benefit to the public, and so on.
As Thomas Freedman said, "Deep holes and weak leaders are a bad combination." This is a weak government - so far - and it should take advantage of whatever credibility it still has left to dig itself out of the scrape it has put itself in, or forfeit and join the USFP who also came in on the shoulders of the poor only to serve the interests of the rich.