By Enyichukwu Enemanna
King of Morocco, Mohammed VI has called for speedy reforms to create jobs for young people, improve public services, and reduce inequality in the region paying greater attention to the mountain and oasis areas.
The King made the call on Friday in a speech at the opening of the country’s parliament, a week after widespread protests by young Moroccans who are demanding better health, education and an end to corruption.
A constitutional monarchy, Morocco runs a system where the King sets the major policy direction implemented by an elected government.
The King did not address youth protesters directly but said there should be no inconsistencies or competition between the country’s national flagship projects and social programmes.
He urged “a faster implementation pace and stronger impacts from the next-generation of local development programmes,” which he had asked the government to prepare in July.
Priority areas include job creation for young people and “tangible progress in the education and health sectors, as well as local rehabilitation policies,” he said.
Morocco’s unemployment rate stands at 12.8%, with youth unemployment reaching 35.8% and 19% among graduates, official data showed.
Special attention should be given to the “most fragile areas” such as mountains, the king directed.
While the level of poverty has dropped in Morocco from 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024, mountainous and oases areas show above-average poverty levels, data from the national statistics agency shows.
Development experts have said most of the country’s population, financial and industrial hubs and vital infrastructure are concentrated in the northwest, leaving the rest of the country reliant on farming, fisheries and tourism.
Thousands of persons lined the avenue leading to parliament to greet King Mohammed VI who wore traditional attire and was accompanied by his brother and his son, the crown prince.
On Thursday night at the same square near the Parliamentary Building, only a few persons protested in response to a call by the country’s Generation Z protest version, group known as GenZ 212 but without a central leadership.
The group said it would suspend its protests on Friday out of respect for the King.
