Regionalisation

The Consultative Committee on Regionalisation, tasked in January 2010, with investigating and consulting on the most appropriate type of regionalisation and de-centralisation for Morocco, reported to His Majesty in early 2011.  In accordance with its mandate, it has proposed a uniquely Moroccan solution, to take account of the country's individual characteristics and its people's expectations, as well as the specific geographical, regional and economic realities.

Its Chairman, M. Omar Azziman, observed that the Committee realised that the current Constitution does not allow for a programme of advanced regionalisation, in particular where the proposal of constitutional amendments would affect certain aspects regarding regional governance, such as Article 101 which provides for the Wali or Local Governor to enact decisions reached by regional councils.  

The Committee considered that the establishment of an advanced regionalisation programme would first require the election of a regional council by universal suffrage and the devolution of executive power to the president of this regional council.  M. Azziman said that the Committee had recommended that the number of women in regional councils be expanded by means of adding a sentence in the Article which refers to the equality of the sexes, as a means of encouraging the up-take of management positions by women.

The Advanced Regionalisation Plan's proposals will form part of the work involved in the recently-announced Consultative Committee's remit on Constitutional Reform, which M. Azziman observed is of historical and crucial importance, since the Constitution guarantees both individual and collective freedoms as well as human rights.

M. Azziman said that the Committee wanted the region to be a lever for economic, social and cultural development.  He emphasised that the Committee's main priority is the eradication of regional disparities and the putting in place of mechanisms likely to achieve this objective.


March 2011