Rabat – Contrary to what has been reported by Moroccan media recently, The National Rally of Independents (RNI) has not been boycotting government meetings, said Minister of Human Rights Mustapha Ramid on Tuesday.
In the last few days, several Moroccan news outlets questioned the absence of RNI’s ministers from government meetings, including the recent government council that took place on Thursday, February 8.
RNI officials were not in attendance at a meeting chaired by Saad Eddine El Othmani in Oujda on February 10, which led to speculation among opposition parties and press.
In a statement, which was received by Morocco World News on Tuesday, Morocco’s Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) criticized both the RNI and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces political parties for boycotting the governing council meeting.
In the press release, the PPS voiced its “rejection of political and partisan practice that does not respect constitutional missions.” PPS added that “the political bureau of the PPS has addressed the negative interactions that have recently occurred between the majority parties, to the point of arousing unprecedented and inappropriate reactions, in a total lack of respect for constitutional duties.”
Ramid, who is a member of the Justice and Development Party, said that RNI members, in fact, have not been boycotting government meetings. The minister voiced his remarks on the sidelines of the Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) forum held in Rabat on Tuesday.
The minister emphasized that “all the ministers who were absent from the government council on February 8 were taking care of other duties.”
“My RNI friends told me that there was no boycott.” During El Othmani’s visit to Oujda, Aziz Akhannouch, Morocco’s Minister of Agriculture and Secretary General of the RNI, called El Othmani to reassure him that there is no boycott, but that he was in fact engaged in other projects, said Ramid.
“So far, we are not aware of any boycott, and if so, it is not acceptable,” he added.
