Well I can note two things. For one, energy is deeply subsidised in Morocco. Whatever corruption is obviously present in Morocco, sadly, the general public is better off on this road of energy independence, financially too, especially in the long-run, and due to subsidies, in the short term the consequences are limited to some extent.
Secondly, it's absolutely true of course the King is present on every major occasion. But what's the alternative? I don't think Morocco is ready for the alternative. As much as the king sucks in some ways and generates ridiculous revenues for him and his close allies, he's keeping the place together and Morocco is moving forward into a positive future. That's a big deal for what really is quite a poor North-African country with few natural resources, a not so recent colonial past, especially compared to most arab nations that have far more resources. Does the corruption suck? Absolutely, but I see it as part of the system. In much of the 'west' we have taxes that are used to run a more-or-less democratically elected government. In Morocco this tax is levied in the form of corruption and used to run a non-elected system of governance. The former is obviously preferable to the latter, but both are imperfect and the latter is generally working out for the Moroccan public, whose lives are getting better on the whole, their economy is growing on the whole, even through the crisis, in a world that's becoming more grim and harder to navigate. Morocco has deep challenges but the King putting up his usual show/routine is really not one of my current concerns.
Beyond that, it must be said this project was mostly externally funded, from Saudi Arabia, CIF, African Bank etc. If anything, given the strong electricity subsidies for households, I'd expect the public to be net beneficiaries of this project.
>> this project was mostly externally funded, from Saudi Arabia, CIF, African Bank etc. If anything, given the strong electricity subsidies for households, I'd expect the public to be net beneficiaries of this project.
Aren't subsidies paid from public taxes ? And does it matter who finance this , when part of the deal is a contract to sell expensive electricity to the people of morroco ?
Secondly, it's absolutely true of course the King is present on every major occasion. But what's the alternative? I don't think Morocco is ready for the alternative. As much as the king sucks in some ways and generates ridiculous revenues for him and his close allies, he's keeping the place together and Morocco is moving forward into a positive future. That's a big deal for what really is quite a poor North-African country with few natural resources, a not so recent colonial past, especially compared to most arab nations that have far more resources. Does the corruption suck? Absolutely, but I see it as part of the system. In much of the 'west' we have taxes that are used to run a more-or-less democratically elected government. In Morocco this tax is levied in the form of corruption and used to run a non-elected system of governance. The former is obviously preferable to the latter, but both are imperfect and the latter is generally working out for the Moroccan public, whose lives are getting better on the whole, their economy is growing on the whole, even through the crisis, in a world that's becoming more grim and harder to navigate. Morocco has deep challenges but the King putting up his usual show/routine is really not one of my current concerns.
Beyond that, it must be said this project was mostly externally funded, from Saudi Arabia, CIF, African Bank etc. If anything, given the strong electricity subsidies for households, I'd expect the public to be net beneficiaries of this project.