Faced with complaints over red tape and inaction, Morocco is looking to reform the country’s public sector.
Despite the many measures adopted by the Moroccan government, the civil service is still weighed down by heavy bureaucracy.
The recent launch of a National Strategy to Modernise the Civil Service was prompted by urgent demands by the public, who want to see better-quality public services, according to El Kassi Mohamed, who works for an NGO.
“We want to lay the foundations for an efficient, open and transparent civil service,” said Abdeladim El Guerrouj, the minister-delegate for the public sector and modernisation of the civil service. He spoke to Magharebia on the side-lines of the launch event for the new reform plan, which was unveiled April 5th in Rabat.
During the same event, Minister of State Abdellah Baha underlined that the issues surrounding the Moroccan civil service centre around good governance, in addition to the dangers associated with corruption and bureaucracy.
That view was shared by Interior Minister Mohand Laenser, who underlined that it was important to boost the human resources of the Moroccan civil service because this reform cannot come about without a high level of involvement of public-sector workers.
The implementation of this strategy will be accompanied by the creation of follow-up mechanisms, in particular the “National Conference on the Modernisation of the Civil Service”.
A project management office will also be created to monitor its implementation, and the initiative will be led by a national council headed by the prime minister and an interdepartmental committee chaired by the public sector minister. A number of identified programmes will be launched in tandem, ten of which will be put in place by the end of 2013.
Both members of the public and businesses are demanding high-quality public services.
Adnan Elmalki, an entrepreneur based in Casablanca, told Magharebia that the way the civil service is run is disappointing in most cases: “We have a hard time because of the tax authorities, who don’t always understand the constraints faced by investors.”
“We have to wait for months and months to receive construction permits from the town planning department,” said Abdelkhaleq Adib, a young property developer in Casablanca.
According to Minister-Delegate El Guerrouj, streamlining the management of public affairs in order to deal with the current economic situation and satisfy the expectations of the public and companies is also one of the goals of the new strategy.
Abla Montassir, a student at the University of Casablanca, thinks that there is mistrust between the Moroccan civil service and the public: “There is an urgent need to reconcile Moroccans with their civil service.”
The issue of mistrust is made worse by the malaise within the government. Members of the public are critical of the quarrels between the various factions making up the coalition government.
“If the coalition can’t manage the relationship between the parties that make it up, how can it do a good job of running state affairs?” asked Widad Chekrouni, a 28-year-old teacher.
According to a report published by the central committee of the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) on April 14th, the governing coalition is “sadly dysfunctional, because all of its component parts are not adequately performing their duty to present an image of a united government team which will inspire confidence on the part of the Moroccan public and abroad, including among investors”.
The Istiqlal Party, whose Secretary-General Hamid Chabat is criticising the government more and more often with regard to the slow pace of its work, does not appear to welcome the PPS’s call for unity.
“The PPS stands accused by Istiqlal of wanting to hold onto its four ministerial posts, which do not reflect its electoral weight. This kind of accusation is damaging to the coalition,” explained political analyst Jamal Farhane.
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane gave an assurance during a meeting held on April 13th in Bouznika that the government was “displaying unity”, adding that it was “business as usual, and it won’t be affected by the disruption”.
