Soaring prices: Is there a pilot on the plane?
This is the subject that overshadows all the news, namely the soaring prices to which no solution has been found, all of it against a backdrop of unprecedented inflation. Faced with this crisis, the Government continues to be criticized for its non-responsiveness in tackling the substance of the case.
However, since ministers are supposed to be politicians, they had to use their imagination to suggest solutions and go out into the field to explain these solutions to the public opinion. Instead, some ministers are holed up in their closets, waiting for the storm to pass. Others have contented themselves with giving promises of a return to normalcy as Ramadan was approaching. The ministers have even innovated in the lexicon used to state that the downtrend in prices had begun, but, each time, they were contradicted by the reality of the market. Today, the parties of the government majority seem to wallow in this situation.
The only warning shot came from Enaam Mayara, the Speaker of the House of Councillors, and member of the Istiqlal Executive Committee. During a meeting of his union, the UGTM, in the town of Kelâat Sraghna, Enaam Mayara tackled head-on the inability of the Cabinet to control the soaring prices of agricultural products and the deterioration of the purchasing power of citizens. The boss of the UGTM, the trade union arm of the Istiqlal party, invited ministers to go out into the field instead of limiting themselves to statements in front of television cameras. Enaam Mayara went as far as to point the finger at speculators and other intermediaries supposed to be at the origin of this crisis. More than a week later, the PAM (Party of Authenticity and Modernity) sought to ride the wave. This party convened its political bureau to notably call on the leaders of the government majority to call for an emergency meeting. The aim is to address the economic situation and its difficult repercussions on the lives of several categories of citizens. The menu of the meeting also included the approach adopted in the reports of constitutional and strategic institutions in charge of economic and financial affairs, without naming either the central bank (Bank Al-Maghrib) or the High Commission for Planning (HCP). The statement that was released called on the Government to tighten control and crack down on speculators. It is obvious that the opposition was not going to be silent in the face of the Government’s inability to react and take the necessary measures. The parliamentary groups called on the ministers to come and explain themselves to the specialized committees. Other MPs resorted to written questions addressed to members of the Government.
Mohamed CHAOUI
