Just a couple of days in Morocco and all of the discussions I have had so far center around the February 20 movement and the issue of constitutional reforms. The movement engenders different reactions from people and there is no consensus on their aims and mission for change (this will be the subject of separate analysis in future blog entries). So many Moroccans, however, are in anticipation of the commission for constitutional revisions' final report and recommendations. The commission was set up after the royal address of March 9th to elicit proposals from a wide array of groups and individuals in Morocco's political scene and civil society.
On Tuesday, the head of the commission Abdelatif Mennouni and royal adviser Mohammed Mou'tassim met King Mohammed VI to present the results of three months of discussions on changes to the constitution. A first reading of an alleged leaked draft said proposals to the constitution suggests slight linguistic and style revisions in several articles, but insufficient deep institutional/structural changes. The most important change in the purported draft is the omission of the reference to the sanctity of the monarch. The king is still inviolable and will retain full control over the military and religions realms as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and
amir al-mu'minin (Arabic: أمير المؤمنين-commander of the faithful).
The office of the prime minister is expected to receive a complete make-over. The new PM will have vast executive and appointment powers, except in the military and the religious fields. The PM will control the government and its cabinet portfolios, save for the ministry of religious affairs, which will be reserved to the king. The PM will also appoint ambassadors, governors and heads of the various state agencies. The parliament will expand its law-making powers to more than 40 areas of policy-making. Finally the constitutional court will assume original jurisdiction opening its gates directly to the people, who could challenge the constitutionality of any law.
On the surface these projected changes to the constitution present significant modifications to the contours of the political system and regime. They reduce the vast powers of the monarch. If passed by the electorate (which is largely expected), the monarchy will effectively set itself a sphere higher than the travails of the political fray in Morocco. In essence, the monarchical institution devolves some of its powers to the elected bodies of the people in the executive and legislative branches, and at the same time, setting the judiciary a step further towards autonomy.
These are incremental changes that won't satisfy those, notably the kitchen sink that is Feb 20 movement, looking for radical transformation of the political system to a complete electoral, representative constitutional monarchy. For one, the monarchy still retains its all ubiquitous discretionary powers of Dahir (Arabic: الظهير-Royal decree), which in effect could suspend the law-making function of the legislative body of the parliament. Similarly, monarchical prerogative in dissolving the parliament and the government, albeit this time with the consent of the government, limits the principle of separation of powers.
More importantly, the constitution does not and cannot address other aspects of direly needed reforms. Of particular interest are the kleptocracy and nepotism in the Moroccan administration and economy. No matter how inchoate they are, institutional reforms have to be complemented with stringent guarantees against abuse of power, corruption and inequality of the laws. Individual freedom and liberty of the press are guaranteed in the constitution, but have to be safeguarded from the abuses of the state. The kingdom has for the most part engaged in an irreversible course of change, gradual as it may be today, but the biggest challenge in the future is to enable real socio-economic reforms. The pace of reforms may be slow, but could well be sped up by constant pressure from an increasingly restless society.
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