Thursday, October 18, 2007

Here it starts again...



After the collective “Aie!” (ouch) heard in Morocco after the appointment of Abbas El Fassi as Prime Minister, the members of the new government which was appointed on October15th are holding today their first official meeting.

When the list of the new government members was announced, some names were disappointing, others were expected, and some were quite surprising. One of the positive surprises, for me, was the appointment of Latifa Akherbach as a Secretary of State to the Minster of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. A brilliant woman who, only a few months ago, moved from the position of Director of the High Institute of Journalism (ISIC) to that of the director of the Moroccan national radio.

Another surprising name was that of actress Touriya Jebrane, who is now the Moroccan Minister of Culture. Quite a surprise from a rather discreet artist and apparently politician! But I hope that her being an artist originally will make her decisions closer to the expectations and needs of her fellow artists; because they definitely need decision-makers and politicians who know what it is to be an artist in Morocco.

And then there was the appointment of Ahmed Akhchichine at the head of the Ministry of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training, and Scientific Research. Akhchichine, who has been the General Director of the High Authority for Audiovisual Communication since its creation in 2002, was never cited (as far as I know) among the expected candidates for this Ministry – quite a problematic department.

The decision to put Ahmed Taoufiq Hejira (Minister of Housing, Town Planning and Development) and Karim Ghellab (Minister of Equipment and Transport) in charge of the same departments they had in the previous government was wise in my opinion. No matter how problematic the situation of these sectors might be, the elections came at a time where Hejira and Guellab were engaged in huge projects, and where changing ministers would inevitably block or at least delay some projects. And then, we must say it, Hejira, Ghuellab and Adil Douiri (Minster of Tourim in the previous government) have been the Istiqlal Party’s “golden trio” which probably played a role in the success of their party in September’s elections.

Anyway, to all the 34 members of the new government: my wishes of good luck… and hard work!!

2 comments:

SABA said...

@Kaoutar: I guess u're right, all of them should be given a chance :) though I think that they'll be having a rough time with the new PM!

Najlae said...

espérons qu'ils nous surprendront agréablement dans les prochains mois. Donnons leur le bénéfice du doute..