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Rabat – This week marked a series of landmark appointments aimed at ensuring King Mohammed VI’s call for more effectiveness and inclusion in Morocco’s public services is implemented.
Mohamed Bachir Rachdi, whom King Mohammed VI appointed yesterday as head of the Nation Authority for probity and the fight against corruption, gave his first press conference in which he lambasted the country’s corruption level.
Speaking yesterday to a group of journalists in Rabat, Rachid damningly said that despite a series of recent reforms to improve public management and foster accountability, corruption continues to drain Morocco’s resources and efforts at full-fledged democratization.
According to Rachdi, corruption does not only cripple the country’s ability to deliver on its vast socio-economic potential; it also “negatively impacts the confidence of both Moroccans and foreign investors.”
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While exacerbated corruption leads citizens to question how possible genuine change is, it discourages foreign investors from launching development-inspiring economic ventures in the country, he explained.
But the new boss of Morocco’s anti-corruption architecture did not just berate the country’s corruption index.
“This is both an honor and a great responsibility,” he said, thanking King Mohammed VI for choosing him to lead the “crucial fight against corruption.”
Rachdi also acknowledged Morocco’s enormous development potential. He added, however, that to reach such potential, a sustained and relentless battle against corruption and related practices is needed.
For Morocco’s new anti-corruption man, his appointment “marks a new era” in Morocco’s fight march toward accountable and efficient governance. “We hope to be part of an era of real and irreversible changes,” he said.
A “central instrument” in Morocco’s desire to “optimize on its enormous resources,” the National Authority will not only prevent corruption, Rachdi said. In addition, the body will also put in place “effective and appropriate strategies” to monitor and assess public policies.
