A bill to notably prevent Moroccans with other nationalities and people who do not enjoy their civil and political rights from being part of the government raises strong controversies. The deputies of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) that Abdelilah Benkirane directs are the initiators. They made three proposals for amendment to organic law n ° 065-13 relating to the organization and conduct of government work and the legal status of its members. The first concerns the modification of article 31.
The second amendment proposal relates to the modification of article 33. PJDIS deputies propose that all members of the government sell all the actions they have, including companies, entrepreneurs and private establishments. According to them, ministers should cease any professional or commercial activity in the private sector during the period of their exercise of their functions.
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The third amendment proposal concerns article 35 and stipulates the need to settle the status of each member of the Parliament in a state of conflict within a period not exceeding 30 days from the date of appointment of the government by the House of Representatives, or from the date of appointment of the member of the government concerned, as the case may be.
Submitted in April 2023, this bill should be submitted to the competent committee on May 13, for an exam on May 20. But the text is far from unanimous. According to Saâd Benmbarek, deputy for the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the proposed ban is illogical, because the law on nationality already authorizes dual nationality. “The fact that a minister has another nationality is not contrary to the law,” he summarizes.
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For the elected RNI, the transfer of private goods is an exaggerated requirement. The property right is guaranteed by the Constitution, he recalled. Ahmed Touizi, president of the parliamentary group of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), abounds in the same direction. It is inconceivable to demand from a future minister that he assumes his property before his appointment, he believes, adding that the law already requires government to suspend any professional or commercial activity in the private sector for the duration of their mandate.
