King Mohammed VI celebrated Moroccans’ strong attachment to their core values, at a time when around the world, “values are sometimes abandoned altogether.”
On the occasion of the opening of the new legislative session on Friday, King Mohammed VI highlighted the importance of the recent Al Haouz earthquake in demonstrating Moroccans’ strong attachment to “this beautiful spirit and this noble ideal, which are in all of us, for they represent, for Us, the seeds of unity and cohesion in Moroccan society.”
The King noted that “these national values, enshrined in the Constitution, federate all the constituent elements of authentic Moroccan identity and weave a bond of openness and harmony with universal ideals.”
“These include religious and spiritual values, national values and values of solidarity and social cohesion, to which all Moroccans must remain firmly attached, as they “contribute to the consolidation of national unity and family cohesion, the preservation of human dignity and the strengthening of social justice.”
“We are all the more determined to uphold these values in today’s world, which is undergoing profound and accelerating changes that have led to a significant retreat in value systems and frames of reference, and sometimes even to their outright abandonment”, insisted the Sovereign.
King Mohammed VI called on the government to give priority to the rationalization and efficiency of currently existing social support programs, and to ensure the sustainability of financing methods. He also stressed the need to adopt good governance for this project, in all its dimensions, and to establish a special mechanism for tracking and evaluation, to ensure its development and continuous evaluation.
In the same vein, the King announced that Morocco will begin implementing a direct social support program at the end of this year, as an embodiment of Moroccans’ deep-rooted solidarity values, which will expand on the beneficiaries.
This support concerns both school-age children and minors with disabilities, in addition to poor and vulnerable families without children, especially those who support senior citizens.
“Thanks to its direct impact, this program will contribute to raising the standard of living of the targeted families, fighting poverty and fragility, and improving social and human development indicators.” Society is more productive and more proactive when it is more solidarized and more fortified against emergencies and circumstantial fluctuations,” said the King in a speech before Parliament.
“We have directed the government to implement this program, according to a comprehensive vision, and within the framework of the principles of the law – the framework related to social protection, which was approved by Parliament.”
The implementation will be gradual, said the Monarch, as the program will take into account the development of the allocated financial subsidies, and determining the level optimal coverage, amounts of financial transfers and how to manage them.
Through the speech, the Sovereign stressed “the need to continue providing aid and assistance to quake stricken families, to undertake the swift reconstruction of affected areas, and to provide them with basic services.”
In this context, King Mohammed VI stressed the necessity of respecting the principles of solidarity, transparency and fairness, and granting support to those who require it.
“While every earthquake inevitably brings with it its share of destruction, we are driven by the firm resolve to act to rebuild”, said the King, who affirmed that this ordeal had enabled us to see at first hand the Moroccan values that form the foundations of the unity and cohesion of Moroccan society and its authentic identity.
“This tragedy has taught us a valuable lesson: the authentic values of the Moroccan soul have prevailed, the very values which have always enabled our country to overcome crises and adversity, and which constantly reinforce our determination to continue our journey with confidence and optimism”, emphasized the Sovereign.