Mohamed VI had restricted his public presence in recent months, limited to a handful of notable official and religious events. Visibly thinner after years of an obese profile, the 61-year-old king of Morocco, who underwent heart surgery in 2018 and 2020, appeared again at the royal palace in Rabat on Wednesday night in a chain of official hearings in which he received numerous senior officials, including the new walis(governors) that he has appointed, and swore in the members of the Government that emerged from a broad readjustment in which eight ministers and six secretaries of State have entered. Furthermore, the monarch of the Alawite dynasty is preparing to receive the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, next week, in a long-awaited official visit that seals diplomatic reconciliation with the former colonial power after the decisive turn taken three months ago by Paris in favor of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara.
The sovereign has maintained the tradition of appearing in public in religious celebrations, such as the festival of the sacrifice or the lamb, in June, and secular celebrations, such as the throne festival, in July, which coincided with the 25th anniversary of his arrival to power, but he was hardly seen during his vacations on the beaches near Tetouan, which this summer did not extend to Al Hoceima (also on the northern coast of the Maghreb country), as was usual in mid-August. In September, during a private visit to Paris, where he owns a luxurious residence near the Eiffel Tower, Mohamed VI declined to meet with Macron at the Elysée, as French and Moroccan media had anticipated.
Returning to Rabat, the monarch has reactivated his public presence coinciding with the spread on social networks of comments about the alleged deterioration of his state of health. To mark the traditional beginning of the session, on the 11th he gave a speech before Parliament in which he praised the “clear support” of France and its president for Morocco’s autonomy plan as the “only solution” for the conflict of the Western Sahara, and also thanked the “friendly country Spain” for its support on the issue of the former Spanish colony, which he defined as the “first national cause” of the Maghreb country.
A week later, the king presided over a Council of Ministers in which the public budget project for 2025 was defined and dozens of new senior officials were appointed. And five days later he was photographed in the royal palace with the newly remodeled Government in full, in a gesture that seems to want to show that he is still at the helm of the executive power.
In Morocco it is common for governments to undergo readjustments mid-term. The Cabinet of Prime Minister Aziz Ajanuch, in office since 2021 after having defeated at the polls the Islamists who governed the previous decade, has released ballast by replacing the most senior ministers. burned of the tripartite coalition of the independents of the chief executive, the liberals of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, located in territorial fiefdoms, and the conservative nationalists of the historic Istiqlal (Independence).
Among others, the holders of the Agriculture portfolios have left, whose role in drought management had been questioned; that of Higher Education, which has faced a long strike by medical students, opposed to the reduction of their study program, and that of Health, a department whose head has been appointed one of the managers of the group of companies of the Ajanuch family, considered the second fortune of the North African country, after the Al Mada fund, whose main shareholder is the Moroccan royal family. “There were many issues that had been left in suspense, which has significantly forced a radical decision to reorganize the government,” analyzes Abbas el Uardi, professor of Law at the Mohamed V Rabat University, quoted by the digital portal. Hespress.
The change has been extensive – in eight of the 24 portfolios, which include six secretaries of State – but, fundamentally, almost everything remains the same. The so-called “sovereignty” ministries, such as those of the Interior or Foreign Affairs, which control key areas of power, are accountable to the king, who appoints those responsible directly. “The Ajanuch Government has been criticized for its lack of communication with society and for ignoring its electoral promises, especially in terms of employment,” the pan-African weekly newspaper highlights in its digital edition. Young Africa, which also warns the Executive that its deadline is running out, with two years of the legislature remaining until the next general elections.
Despite having returned to public activity in recent weeks, Mohamed VI has recently declined to attend international conclaves such as those organized by the Arab League and the UN. In December of last year, he made his first official trip abroad in five years to seal a multi-million dollar investment agreement from the United Arab Emirates in Morocco, such as the extension of the high-speed rail network to Marrakech, the first and only operational one on the African continent. , or the construction of large ports near Dakhla (former Spanish Villa Cisneros) in Western Sahara, and Nador, near Melilla.
Last year he canceled the traditional commemorative speech of the Revolution of the King and the People, which remembered the exile of Mohamed V under French colonization every August 20, 70 years ago. His public intervention to mark the milestone of the fight for Moroccan independence under the leadership of his grandfather was one of the four speeches he usually gave a year.
The public presence of the king is key in a country with a high concentration of executive power in the hands of the head of state, as granted by the current 2011 Constitution, although delegated in part to his advisors in the royal cabinet, to the ministers of sovereignty and the rest of the Government. Almost all the relevant decisions of the Sherifian kingdom converge on the throne. In the early hours of September 8 last year, Mohamed VI was in his Paris mansion on a private trip when a strong earthquake shook the Atlas region. His absence contributed to generating an initial funnel in decision-making until his return to Rabat, which occurred on the afternoon of the 9th.
The debate on the public presence of Mohamed VI was revived after he spent more than six months abroad in 2022 (in Gabon, the Seychelles and France) and another three months in the same countries in 2023. “We are going on a plane without a pilot,” he declared to The Economistthat same year a former senior official protected by anonymity. Two years ago, former minister Mohamed Ziane, 81 years old and also with Spanish nationality, was convicted by the courts and imprisoned after having broadcast a video on social networks in which he criticized “the absences of Mohamed VI”, for allegedly ignoring himself. of the affairs of the kingdom, and demanded that he abdicate in favor of his son, Crown Prince Hasan, 21 years old.