Mustapha Baitas, Minister Delegate in charge of relations with Parliament and civil society, stated that protesting in the streets costs Morocco a great deal in terms of development.
Baitas advocated for increased space for civil society to advocate through mechanisms such as petitions, allowing citizens to voice their demands to the authorities without resorting to disruptive means.
During a meeting this Friday in Rabat, which was hosted by the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Baitas stated that he worked on a Millennium Challenge project while he was a supervisor in the Ministry of Agriculture, a project that was once approved and expected to receive funding in the form of a grant from an international institution worth $300 million, but the foundation refused to fund it.
According to the international institution, said Baitas, the reason for depriving it of funding is because of a report that was released, which dropped Morocco’s ranking in the category of women’s status from six to five points because of the recording of protests by women in rural areas.
However, Baitas stated that the state should continue to control the health and education sectors, despite trade unions’ criticism that the government is “removing its hand” from these important public sectors to allow the private sector to grow.
During his talk about health sector reform, the official stressed that the private sector “must be a partner and not a primary actor; When there is a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, there must be hospitals, but the management must be in the hands of the state.
Regarding this, the government’s spokesperson expressed optimism about reforming Morocco’s healthcare system, stating that six crucial laws have been put in place to do so.
The general directors of university hospitals will oversee the management of the health issue in all of its facets.
The Minister painted a “pink picture” of Morocco’s future, saying that the Kingdom, after announcing its victory in organizing the World Cup in 2030, started progressing at a steady pace, and there is a deep economic turning point coming.
He noted that the budget allocated to reconstruct the Al Haouz earthquake-affected area, is worth MAD 120 billion, explaining that companies will benefit from it which contributes to internal growth.
Baitas touched on the role played by civil society in the process of supporting those affected by the earthquake, linking the success achieved by Morocco in managing the tragedy to the fact that the Kingdom goes beyond what’s common to help each region in need.
He added “There is a very important issue that makes us observe a stronger dynamism of civil society in Morocco compared to other countries, related to Morocco being a nation-state. Therefore, the nation-state differs from the state with national denominators, in which all major barriers disappear and only minor differences remain, such as regional affiliation, and language.”