Ismail Al-Halouti
It is really a deterioration in everything, in moral values, politics and many others, but what is meant here is the deterioration in the standard of living of citizens, which has become as if it is an inevitable fate that accompanies Moroccans. It is unfortunate that their disappointment in successive governments continues, after spending ten years of injustice, oppression, marginalization, increasing rates of poverty and unemployment, freezing wages and widening the circle of spatial and social disparities, finishing off the most important social gains such as retirement, strike and public employment, during the era of the Justice and Development Party of reference. The Islamist, who led the government for two consecutive terms after the adoption of the 2011 constitution …
Today they are drinking something more dangerous under a government that has been called a “government of competencies,” led by the “National Rally of Independents” party under the presidency of Aziz Akhannouch, the fifth richest businessman in North Africa according to the “Forbes” classification, who promised them during the election campaign much that did not come. His predecessors, on the grounds that they deserve the best, however, soon discovered, from the first months of his government’s life, that they had fallen into the trap of a major deception, in the face of the unfair decisions they were facing, and they were suffering from a deterioration in their purchasing power as a result of the series of high prices, and that his promises “Generosity” is more terrible than the promises of the owner of the largest exceptional pension in the history of contemporary Morocco, Abd al-Ilah Ibn Kiran, and they have confirmed the truth of the famous saying: “There is no smooth hedgehog.”
After the departure of Al-Na’am Mayara, Chairman of the Council of Advisors and a member of the Executive Committee of the Istiqlal Party, participating in the government, during a communication meeting with members of his union, to alert the government to the crisis of high prices, the continuation of speculation, the lack of wage increases, and the consequences of the series of high fuel prices that cast a shadow over the rest of the prices of materials. basic and widespread consumption, and its negative impact on the purchasing power of large segments of Moroccan society, including the middle class.
What the High Commissioner for Planning previously confirmed in its penultimate news note is that the inflation rate rose to 10.1 percent during February 2023 due to an increase in food prices by 20.1 percent, and non-food prices by 3.6 percent. Cent. Bank Al-Maghrib warned, in turn, that inflation will remain at high levels in the medium term, and that it is expected to reach 5.5 percent before the end of this year. And other shocking numbers and data that reveal concretely the long and dark economic and social tunnel into which our country has been stuck without the government being able to get out of it, in the face of what it knows of confusion and inability to face matters with the necessary seriousness and strong political will.
And after the High Commissioner for Planning, Ahmed Al-Halimi Al-Alami, sounded the alarm in an interview that a newspaper conducted with him at the end of March 2023, by calling on the government explicitly and directly to the need to break the barrier of silence and communicate with citizens about what is happening in terms of inflation and igniting prices, stressing that the wave of The rising price hike is mainly due to a crisis of supply and mismanagement, which resulted in a scarcity of water resources and the failure of the agricultural model to achieve the desired goals, and not to other factors beyond its control such as the “Covid-19” pandemic or the Russian/Ukrainian war and its repercussions, as some of those involved in the matter like. Promote it in their media outlets. The record rise in prices has become structural, not circumstantial, and everyone must be well aware of this fact and get used to its levels.
The High Commissioner for Planning returned again, through continuous research on the situational situation of families, to reveal what has become a state of pessimism and loss of confidence in Moroccan families, as 85.3 percent of them have deteriorated their standard of living in the past twelve months, which is a remarkable level that it has not reached. Since 2008, as a result of what it suffers from the consequences of the unpopular policies adopted by the tripartite government coalition, the level of fuel prices whose leader insists on refraining from taking any decisive decision regarding its roofing, which is the demand that the major trade union centers have been calling for in order to stop the series The unprecedented cost, which most basic consumer items, especially vegetables, fruits and red meat, have become known to, due to the failure of the green plan to provide food security for Moroccans, which Prime Minister Akhannouch has been supervising during his tenure as Minister of Agriculture for more than ten years, and billions have been spent on it without Feasibility.
We do not believe that the government reshuffle is the best option for the Akhannouch government to get out of the dark tunnel, as some political crooks see, but rather it needs to shake off the dust of inaction and move quickly in the direction of containing the deteriorating situation and focus on searching for ways to end the high price crisis and the high cost of living. To avoid further social tension, which has been escalating for several months, and the resulting threat to social peace and political stability.