Dismissal of Marrakech wali causes political stir in Morocco
2009-07-26
Morocco's interior ministry fired Marrakech wali Mounir Chraibi following protests from the Authenticity and Modernity Party. To many observers, the decision demonstrates the growing power of that party.
By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat -- 26/07/09
 [Abdelhak Senna/AFP/Getty Images] Protests from newly elected Marrakech mayor Fatima Zahra Mansouri led to the firing of the region's wali. |
After conducting an investigation into how the constituency of Menara handled its recent communal elections, Morocco's interior ministry dismissed Mounir Chraibi as the wali (chief) for the Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz region.
The ministry on Tuesday (July 21st) explained that its central committee "found great dysfunctions" in the wilaya's administrative services and thus decided to "relieve Mounir Chraibi of his duties".
The issue began when a complaint of voting irregularities filed by a candidate from the Democratic Forces Front (FFD) led the Administrative Court to invalidate the results of the June 12th communal elections in the Menara district, thereby cancelling Fatima Zahra Mansouri's elections as Marrakech mayor. On July 15th, Marrakech Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) officials observed a 48-hour strike to protest the decision.
According to Mansouri, Mounir Chraibi asked her to delegate strategic responsibilities – including housing - to city officials. The wali also reportedly asked that Mansouri allow him to take over some of the most important duties in the "ochre city".
"I couldn’t agree to that," she told reporters. "I think he was too insistent, especially with regard to the delegation of powers," she said.
PAM claimed to have evidence that city affairs had been mismanaged. The party blamed the wali for the decision to hold a rerun of the elections.
That PAM allegations and Mansouri's remarks prompted the interior ministry to relieve the wali of his duties came as a surprise to both politicians and the public.
After the year-old party swept the communal elections last month, several members of established parties voiced scepticism as to whether the political upstart would actually be able to exert any power.
Now, in the wake of the wali's removal, it appears to Justice and Development Party deputy chief Lahcen Daoudi that "there are some lucky people who get their way".
"You get the impression that the PAM lays down the law – or at least that’s the message that is conveyed by this very swift decision," he said.
Popular Movement MP Fatima Moustaghfir agreed that the action "taken in record time" last week by the interior ministry "reflects the clout that the PAM now has in the political arena".
Moreover, she explained, the step came at a time when many other complaints lodged against walis and governors were getting nowhere.
"I myself have filed complaints against certain walis and governors. Education and diplomas are not enough for these high-up civil servants in the interior ministry. They need to study politics," she said.
Moutaghfir pointed out, however, that PAM "got its way" thanks to its protests and the evidence supporting its claims.
Regarding the speed with which the ministry acted, she told Magharebia that this is precisely how all such affairs should be handled.
"The interior ministry should keep a closer eye on walis," she concluded.
For its part, PAM said that the action was somewhat overdue, coming several months after it presented the Ministry of the Interior with a complete dossier reportedly detailing improper actions by walis and governors in several cities.
PAM also used the press to achieve its objectives.
"PAM put pressure on the interior ministry and publicly denounced the actions of the wali of Marrakech via the media," political science professor Fouad Madani commented.
"It was important for action to be taken, but at the same time this also raises questions regarding other cases that were treated differently," he added.
There is no cause for controversy over the wali's firing, the interior ministry responded, noting that several other local officials were recently dismissed in unrelated cases.
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IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-07-26
Fouad El Himma and the PAM have established themselves a school of electoral politics. The day PAM was created, Mr Fouad specifically said that his aim was to marry voters to the ballots, and that was made a reality on 12 June, after having unveiled the transhuman phenomenon of attracting all political attention to his own person. And there you have it: after the administrative courts cancelled Fatim Zahra Mansouri's election, oh, how he was able to appeal to the law in order to bring about the dismissal of a wali. His credibility was know even before this drama such that the members of his new political environment, the tan City of Marrakesh, were conspiring against him! Until now, El Himma has been on the right track to a true political leader of elections. His has an influence all his own about him that is not at all like that of the RNI or UC in their own creation. In this, they are challenged to compare to the PAM. And, in order to put an end to this long, tiring cycle, he has been called upon to even more than the many community already under his charge, promoting rational management beginning in the months to come. He did not run in many localities where people have inherited a certain way of abusing others' matters. The majority of them are nephews and children of transhumans and all of them are directly connected to the agents of authority, who care only about their own interests and have left PAM and the laws behind! When he is in a position to take on their related transhumans before they metamorphose into abusive imagos, he, I truly believe, will do so and attract the rest of the militants from their ranks.
اقريش رشيد Posted 2009-07-28
We want a democratic Morocco wherein the aspirations of Moroccans are respected. We don't want deception of people. Politics aren't the art of the possible. It is first and foremost a responsibility. It is a management and handling of affairs of the people and country according to a constitution approved by everyone willingly and according to organized laws and legislations. However, when the law becomes in the view of the public futile and valueless, it is the stereotype image acquired by the people of their officials. If this is the fate of law, politics as a concept means in the eyes of the wise a tampering with the affairs of the tpeople. We want a strong Morocco with the independence of the judiciary, accountability, follow-up, separating powers, showing the crimes associated with public monies with a legislation to reflect the sincerity of representation in parliament, punish men of power who abuse the law, prosecute them like all other people in the courts of the kingdom, make works and activities of the parliament voluntarily for a wage which doesn't exceed 10 thousand dirhams, stipulate by law the annulment of allowances for parliamentarians and their comfortable retirement. All this for a society in which the dignity of the silent Moroccan citizen is respected and cut the way to the opportunists who want to go to the parliament. Therefore, a responsible, nationalist and patriotic elite will access it for Morocco of the future, development is the responsibility of everyone. Every citizen is entitled to a share in the resources of his country...For real democracy, not deception.
ابو الهول Posted 2009-07-30
Dismissing the Wali Mounir Chraibi is not enough. All those surrounding him and decisions makers should be dismissed as well. This is because a group of them have been there for a long time, they don't care a twinkle about the citizen. Their only interest is quick profit, showing off and boasting. However, the right always persists. Oh Lord disperse their union, tear apart their honour, break them up and make them among those upon whom you have brought down your wrath, facilitate the business of the city of Marrakesh faithfully and sincerely. Oh Lord preserve our valiant king and all the honorable Alaouite dynasty. I seize this opportunity to express my love for my king with the best wishes and congratulations on the Throne Day. Long live Mohamed VI. May God assist him against hypocrites. Salam.
IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-07-30
Effectively, this stage of punishment and dismissal has finally come about because the minds of the little people have now understood the impact of corruption's marginalisation and poison. What happened to Mounir Chraibi is perhaps further a sign to those who have still forgotten to control their personal interests, making them the linchpin for all matters concerning citizens. These rusty linchpins are always hidden between the institutional superiors in the wilayas and provinces and the smaller superiors in the upper circles and committees in local officers. They still believe in the old law of the jungle, where the strong rule the weak. Somehow, things seem to be moving towards change. This is a source of optimism. Whatever it may be, the Minister of the Interior is on the move.
IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-08-10
By focusing our attention on Marrakesh-Tensift-El Haouz and the former wali Mr Mounir Chraibi, we find ourselves faced with a zone that has swallowed up more money in one single decade that it cannot even keep track of it since the country's independent. This comes from the tourist infrastructure of the city of Marrakesh, which is, in fact, a city of large-scale tourist attraction, and from the various subsidies for the regions agriculture from el-Kelaa to Chichaoua and from Imintanout to the border of Said and Essaouira. This is clearly superficial, as there have been no in-depth studies, as would indicate the rapid enrichment the heads of services have claimed. The later have always acted in secrecy both at the wilaya level and at the provincial level through offices and autonomous budgets. Through roll-over of new recruits, they profit from "collaboration" in Marrakesh, so that they can "collaborate" with the systems of control with immunity from any sort of attack. They have benefited from the prerogatives of organisations that were created by their subordinates. To this belongs the villa zones, which were created on state lands, as in the case of ORMVAH, which has representation at the administrative level and at the organisational level, where the little people are recycle from the bottom just to facilitate the embezzlement of large sums. The affair with Mr Mounir Chraibi from the start reminded the real citizens of the famous reclamation of the National Social Security Cards, but, alas, time or, maybe, such a great number of criminal or something else did not allow this man, who represented His Majesty as the head of Marrakesh to return. This dismissal is due to nothing more than a leak from the source, which will lead those of good mind to abuse and put stress on the whole region!
IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-08-12
Posing a work plan for Marrakesh and the regions no long leaves this to the local communities, all the way from the city-district to the far out rural-commune level. Each of them face their own challenges according to their material and intellectual capacities. The community members are released colossal sums without being tested or moving through the ranks in terms of rational management and in terms of meeting the cities', villages' and douars' needs. These deserve the raw materials and the products necessary to the interior market in order to elevate the regions economy all the way down to the unemployed and criminal. The latter are themselves solely the products of the scourge of clientelism and corruption, which gave birth to them. This will finally call upon our security services. Meanwhile, those who should be cutting away the roots of evil the in the days after the elections (presently), are just waiting to release these sums to spend them on their own interests, especially given that the little people who voted have already been harvested. It is thus up to the leaders charged with the following up on the work of these representatives. In the end, they are the ones we pay from the state treasury. And the state treasury is paid into in various ways by the dismissal of the representatives, for who the door of ignorance and innocence is not completely shut. Indeed, it opens so as to imprison both materially and morally the officials the law delegates. As for the leaders of other sectors, according to the message I wanted to transmit via this comment, they are called upon to participate in the development of the cities and regions in exchange for inflated salaries, and in the opposite case, their salaries will be likewise deflated. Sirs, it is time to change.
IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-08-14
In the past, when ignorance was made apparent by a lack of resources in terms of knowledge, then the innocence of someone accused of a theft or abuse that require more intelligence and things than he had, could be assumed. However, nowadays, when all those accused know well ahead of time the nuisance they are creating, if the law pardons them then it has been surpassed by the time. It has suffered changes such that those who respect it are fewer and have been replaced by the ungrateful, to whom the words "to pardon" mean "to fear". This is from where stems the importance of ceaseless fight against all abusers. For every abuser less that we have, we will have more degrees of stability. As for his good intentions or his innocence, God Alone will judge his intentions, and He did so in helping us accuse the ungrateful in rank and importance!
IBALINE EL HACHMI Posted 2009-08-18
Beyond this dismissal, the entire process it was supposed to lead to in order to punish the real election fraudsters, the subordinates who handle the files and the "people", in Marrakesh and the regions has been slowed and stretched out. It will no longer have the impact local public opinion had hoped - the impact that would have left a change on the horizon for us to see. Current public opinion is different than that of the 1990s, which had a sort of hatred towards superiors such as "Tabit" and so on. The present public opinion is not so much hateful against people as it is towards their actions, because the public knows that change is transplanted at the level of practices. All the same, spoken culture has had a mood for change thanks to the ignorant officials and provincial presidents who have detected the weak points of the big party leaders and the major appointed figures when they are familiar with their bureaus and committees! It is now up to the politicians to do the politicking if they want to achieve their fixed aims and stop rationalising the absurd by applying from the get-go that which opposes their own convictions! And, time is the only constant, as the rest has changed. If it had not, then who could have ever imagined the scourge of party-migration when the other parties are busy with training the same migrants!? In short, electoral law still needs to be modified.
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