King Hassan calls for consolidation of decentralization, creation of audit courts

King Hassan II called on Monday for the consolidation of decentralization and for the strengthening of the role of local councils in the management of provincial and regional affairs.

"We have to ask all the ministerial departments and all the public services to use their best elements in the service of provinces and regions," King Hassan II said during the opening session of the 7th National colloquy on local councils currently held in Casablanca.

The king pleaded for enlarging the prerogatives of the civil servants working in the regions and provinces for the promotion of local management.

"We should examine the possibility to enlarge the prerogatives of these civil servants... who were chosen for their honesty, righteousness and competence," the King said, before stressing the need to draw accurate five-year development plans for each region. These plans, he said, will "take into account the needs of the population and the means and potentials of the province and the region."

In a bid to further consolidate the culture of local management, King Hassan II proposed to include a course on "local affairs" in the baccalaureate syllabi.

"I would like to propose a simple but logical and pedagogical idea. I propose that the ministry of national education includes in the baccalaureate syllabi a course dubbed "local affairs," he said.

The king explained that the text book will highlight "the needs of each region and each province, underline their material and human potentials and the diversity of their population's mentalities." The course is meant to foster the students' attachment to their region, province, municipality and commune, the sovereign said.

King Hassan II also called for handling the issue of local councils management with the "vigilant and earnest manner of the entrepreneur."

"In each step we make, within decentralization and deconcentration, we should observe transparency," King Hassan II said, warning that "improvisation might entail disastrous consequences on the large part of a city, a whole city or a whole region."

The sovereign also announced the creation shortly of 16 regional audit courts to be in charge of checking expenditures and supplies.

The 7th national colloquy on local councils is held under the topic of "decentralization and Deconcentration."

This colloquy takes place within a new reality ushered by the 1996 constitutional amendment, which vested the region with large prerogatives that were once enjoyed by the state alone.

The role of the region became more determining at the national level, as 2/5th of the members of the chamber of advisors (second chamber of the parliament) are elected in the region.

The constitutional amendment, which warded Morocco into 16 regions, entrusted the region with new and key tasks including the construction of hospitals, schools, universities and basic infrastructures. The region is also called to supervise social and economic development.

The national colloquy on local councils, incepted after the adoption of the Communal Charter in 1976, has become a tradition meant to ensure a regular promotion of local affairs management.

The encounter brings together Presidents of regions, Mayors of the Kingdom, Representatives of friendly countries, members of the central government and executives of the administration and of the Civil Society.

Several foreign delegations are attending the meeting that will close doors on Wednesday.