By Said Leghlid, Bouano- Ohio
In light of the King of Morocco’s visit to America, Mbaka Bouaida, Moroccan deputy Foreign Minister, was interviewed by Fox News with intent to make sense of why the King was visiting America and to help Americans learn more about Morocco’s issue of the Sahara, and the bilateral relations with the US.
The lack of depth of reasoning and political savvy by the Moroccan Minister-Delegate of foreign affairs Ms. Mbarka Bouaida’s described on the television interview as one of the “leading women diplomats in the Arab world” was not only blatantly shocking but also of concern as to the confusing answers she gave as a result of a clear inability to communicate fundamental policy issues important to Morocco’s political standing with regard to vital current issues.
The deputy displayed a clear inability to correctly articulate and translate policies in words and ideas that are common diplomatic jargon: Here are some examples of the mis-communicated thoughts she tried to convey with her terrible and below standard English. Whoever put this deputy in front of a camera should also be fired: Many words or entire sentences were either mispronounced or misused abound in the entire interview. Here are some examples: “Imbacted”, “voluntarist”, “Morocco have very strong stability in the region”, “his proximity to the population” this was in reference to the King of Morocco’s governing style with respect to his constituents.
When asked about the relation between the US and Iran, she replied that the US should “maintain them informed”, “Morocco has Malikite islamist current”. I was not sure what she meant by “Malikite rythme”, and that the religious model of Islam can be according to her: “can be a response to the whole world.”
One the last eyebrow raising answer she gave when asked how the instability in the region affects Morocco an otherwise great question where Ms. Bouaida could have seized the opportunity to articulate the Sahara issue and the need for the West to be on Morocco’s side because Morocco finds itself directly fighting terrorism that is spreading in the region, she instead gave an unscripted response that Morocco is adopting some “multi-dimensional approach”, “why we go to extremism”. And that’s how the interview went.
Was she qualified for the job? From the interview, she came through as someone who lacks the poise and maturity of a seasoned representative of Morocco. Not only from huge misunderstandings and discords in how she interpreted few questions, but in the botched answers as well. The young deputy was aloft, nonspecific, unprepared and most importantly unrehearsed.
This defines Morocco as a rookie country not ready for world stage. If Morocco accepts such low standards of representation so be it! I am willing to protest the randomness of how qualified people are chosen to represent Morocco at such an important diplomatic level where the stakes are high.
This Deputy made it clear that the bar is very low. This stems from some legitimate questions: Why would someone who does not master the simple task of reasoning as a diplomat and does not translate well their ability to convey a political message in the desired language be a Deputy foreign affairs minister in first place? The answer is clear: Morocco cannot afford such diplomatic blunders.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Morocco World News’ editorial policy
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