Moroccan Gov’t Committed to Transferring Broad Powers to Regions, Says Upper House Speaker

Fez - The government, as part of its 2012-2026 program, is committed to completing the process of advanced regionalization by transferring broad powers to the region in parallel with the transfer of sufficient financial and human resources for this purpose, said on Thursday in Fez, Speaker of the House of Councillors, Enaam Mayara. The transfer of these powers must be carried out in such a way as to ensure independence in the financial and administrative management of the region, to make it a genuine development hub, a lever for human development and social advancement and an essential partner of the State, Mayara underlined at a thematic conference on 'Advanced regionalization between the challenges of practice and the requirements of revising the legal framework', organized by the Upper House in partnership with the Fez-Meknes Regional Council. In this context, he stressed the importance of providing regional administrations with sufficient and qualified human resources, as well as making the regional dut y more attractive, through the implementation of a forward-looking workforce and skills management system to facilitate decision-making linked to human resources management, strengthen their managerial capacities and adapt duties to the specificities of the territorial area. In this respect, Mayara stressed the urgency of presenting to the House of Councillors the draft law on the status of agents of local authority administrations, with a view to promoting the human resources of these bodies. The Upper House Speaker added that the aim was also to attract skills at territorial level and enhance the continuing training of these agents, insisting on speeding up the development of a statute for regional project implementation agencies enabling them to attract human resources with a wealth of experience and expertise. He also stressed the need to revise the laws and regulations governing the organization of ministerial sectors, the civil service and appointments to hihg positions, to strengthen the organizatio n of regional directorates, to achieve a balance between the central and decentralized levels, to increase the attractiveness of positions at the decentralized level and to give the heads of decentralized services powers to manage the career paths of the human resources under their authority. Mayara also noted that the financing of regionalization depends mainly on resources allocated by the State, amounting to around 93% during the 2018-2021 period, while own resources did not exceed 7% according to the Court of Auditors. He noted that this thematic meeting is the first preparatory stage for the 6th parliamentary forum of the regions, adding that this forum, placed under the high patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, is an innovative institutional framework for implementing the spirit of the Constitution, which in Article 137 provides for the contribution of the regions and other territorial authorities to the implementation of general State policy and the development of territorial policies through their repr esentatives in the House of Councillors. In this context, the Speaker recalled the content of the royal message addressed to the participants in the 2nd Parliamentary Forum of the Regions on November 16, 2017, in which the Sovereign said that the regular exchanges on the progress of this structuring project 'testifies to your full support for the capital importance that We, Ourselves, to this grandiose reform, which aims to further democratize the management of public affairs, and to align national, sectoral and territorial policies towards the objective We have set Ourselves, that of ensuring our fellow citizens, in a sustainable and equitable manner, the progress, well-being and fulfillment they deserve". Source: Agence Marocaine De Presse