Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
Morocco World News/ Maghreb Intelligence
Rabat, February 7, 2012
Everyone in the political milieu in Rabat seems to be confident. Is it due to the decline of the Fassi-Fihri powerful kinship? Anyway, all the looming signs in the Cherifien Kingdom seem to announce it.
The first victim of this “Dis-fassiation”, a term ironically coined by Moroccan politicians, was Abbas El Fassi.
Prime minister for four years and repeatedly appointed as a minister and an ambassador since the 70’s, Abbas is being ostracized from the political arena and from his party the “Istiqlal” in the aftermath of the November 25th legislative elections. He is also facing a torrent of criticism within the nationalist party he has been leading since 1998.
Taïeb Fassi-Fihri, the former minister of foreign affairs and another unfortunate member of this family, is leaving the foreign ministry in which he has remained in office uninterrupted as State Secretary, delegate minister and minister since 1993.
His brother, Ali Fassi-Fihri, at the helm of the strategic National Office of Drinkable Water-ONEP-since 2001 that he heads simultaneously with the equally strategic Electricity National Office-ONE, is currently in trouble.
Being also the president of the Royal Federation of Football-FRMF, he will certainly pay the price for the Moroccan national team’s poor performance in the Cup of African Nations organized jointly by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
In fact, here is strong evidence that he will take his leave from the football federation in the soon future. He is also said to be on the hot seat in both offices.
He has been at the helm of the ONEP for 11 years and at the helm of the ONE for 4 years. For the fusion between both offices to be successful, there is a blatant need for new blood that Ali Fassi-Fihri can no longer inject.
While Fassi-Fihri might join the royal cabinet along with his brother if he ever leaves the presidency of both offices, the names of replacements already circulate, notably that of Mustapha Bakkoury who is currently at the helm of the strategic agency MASEN in charge of piloting the Moroccan solar program.
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