Rabat – In the midst of the escalating controversy in Morocco on the cost of support for the import of livestock and the transparency of this support, the parliamentary majority teams made a request to organize an exploratory task to determine the efficacy of government programs and procedures directed to import cows, sheep and meat, and the extent of their contribution to protecting the purchasing power of citizens.
The move came just two days after the parliamentary opposition teams announced an initiative to form a fact -finding parliamentary committee on various forms of government support directed to import and raising livestock, amid a conflict of numbers about the size of the beneficiaries and the cost of support.
Conflicting numbers
The Minister of Equipment and Water and the Secretary -General of the Independence Party Nizar Baraka ignited the controversy after he was accused of sheep importers of achieving huge and immoral profits at the expense of public support, estimating their profits at 13 billion dirhams (about 1.3 billion dollars).
His colleague in the party, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Riad Mazeer, supported these statements, and pointed out that the number of importers does not exceed 18 individuals, which raises suspicion of monopoly, waving the revelation of their names in the future.
On the other hand, Rashid Al -Talbi Al -Alami, Speaker of the House of Representatives and a leader in the Liberal Party, Commander of the Government Coalition, denied these figures, stressing that the number of importers reached 100, and that the cost of support did not exceed 300 million dirhams (30 million dollars).
In an attempt to dispel the conflict, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that the cost of supporting the import of sheep directed to Eid al -Adha during the years 2023 and 2024 amounted to 437 million dirhams (about 43.7 million dollars), including 875 thousand heads and 156 importers. But it did not reveal the total cost of the rest of the import operations outside this occasion.
The accusations escalated
The accusations escalated after the majority requested the formation of an exploratory task instead of a fact -finding committee, as the Secretary -General of the Progress and Socialism Party (opposition) Nabil Benabdallah accused the government with the political “cunning”, noting that the opposition’s initiative in the House of Representatives is to call for the formation of a fact -finding committee that was supposed to face in a positive spirit, as long as the goal is to reach the truth.
In the midst of this scratch, the government’s official spokesman, Mustafa Baitas, stressed that the choice of the appropriate supervisory mechanism remains the jurisdiction of the parliament and has no income for the government in it, stressing that the government’s relationship with the legislative institution is based on balance and cooperation as stipulated in the constitution.
The parliamentarian for the Justice and Development Party (opposition), Abdul Samad Hayker, said that the public support directed to import livestock did not achieve its declared goals, whether in controlling prices or protecting the purchasing power of citizens or preserving the national herd, but rather turned into a source of huge profits for a limited category, without a tangible impact on the market.
Hayker stressed, in an interview with Al -Jazeera Net, that the official data indicate that only 10.7% of applicants for import were benefited and actually imported cows or sheep, benefiting from the prescribed privileges, and that 40% of the companies that are actually benefiting from the meat or livestock sector, as they were created specifically after announcing the process or changing their activities for the same purpose.
He explained that the figures in his possession are derived from official documents issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and were distributed to the deputies during the discussion of a bill of financial law 2025.
These figures reveal – according to the spokesman – “direct support of 500 dirhams (50 dollars) for each sheep on the occasion of Eid al -Adha, as well as significant tax costs as a result of the exemption from customs duties and value -added tax upon import, bringing the total cost to more than 13 billion dirhams (1.3 billion dollars) until the limits of October 2024”, indicating that import operations have multiplied since that Then, indicating that its cost may exceed 20 billion dirhams (about two billion dollars).
The absence of governance
With regard to the clear conflict in numbers and statements, the parliamentarian Abdul Samad Hayker spoke about the need to achieve transparent and serious, according to his description.
Economist Rashid Sari believes that the controversy over the inconsistency of numbers hides a deeper problem related to “rent, corruption and the absence of governance” according to his description, stressing that “the debate should not be limited only to whether the amounts spent millions or billions are, but must be directed towards the fundamental questions: Who benefited from the process? The market? “.
The expert told Al -Jazeera Net that part of the inconsistencies in the numbers are due to the confusion between two different operations, the first related to the import of sheep designated for Eid al -Adha during the years 2023 and 2024, in which the importers benefited from direct support and customs exemptions; The second concerns a general import process for livestock and red meat in order to provide the market and reduce prices.
“I have no dough, they have no fear.” In the sense that if the government is really sure that its support for livestock importers does not have any imbalance, then why are you evading the fact -finding committee!? The committee is completely like its name, it only aims to the truth. Why is the government afraid of the truth!? pic.twitter.com/eqvhzanvwwww
– PPS – Party of Progress and Socialism (@PSofficiel) April 10, 2025
Between survey and investigation
Given the seriousness and complication of this file, Abdul Samad Hayker believes that the formation of an exploratory task in Parliament is not commensurate with the popular aspirations to reveal the facts and refer the violators to the judiciary in the event of clues to the involvement of anyone in suspicion of violating the public money without the right and dispelling it.
He said, “The exploratory task is a limited mechanism, which emanates from one of the permanent parliamentary committees and does not have the powers of strong mandatory, as officials can ignore the presence of its work without any legal consequences, as it does not allow listening to actors in the private sector, despite the fact that the issue, which is the import of livestock, belongs to importers belonging to this sector.”
On the other hand, he explained that the fact -finding committee, stipulated constitutionally, has wide powers, as it allows listening to any party and obtaining documents by legal strength, and that any person’s failure to cooperate with it is exposed to criminal accountability.
“The report of the investigation committee can be referred to the judiciary in the event of disclosure of violations, which is not provided by the exploratory task that only leads to non -binding recommendations,” he said.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52c9gahxgcccc
He added, “We are facing a file that has suspicions of monopoly, dispelling public funds and achieving unlawful profits for a limited number of importers, which requires real accountability, especially since the affected is not only the citizen, but also the national economy and the livestock sector as a whole.”
As for Rashid Sari, he believes that what raises concern is that “the imbalances that accompanied this process were launched since the year 2023, but it raised it in a loud voice that only took place recently, especially from within the components of the governmental majority itself, which raises the possibility that the issue began to invest in the framework of an early electoral campaign.”
He called for the intervention of the Competition Council as he did previously in the fuel price file, saying, “If the file remains confined to debates between the government and the opposition, we will be in front of an issue that is employed politically instead of being dealt with institutionally according to a transparent and accounting approach.”
