HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
The governor of the Inezgane-Ait Melloul prefecture finds himself before a real test of the extent of the law's activation, against the backdrop of the ongoing controversy surrounding cases of conflicts of interest that are pursuing a number of elected officials within the communal councils in the prefecture, at a time when demands from the local public opinion are increasing to implement the provisions of isolation without selectivity or hesitation.
The incident goes back to the registration of elected officials continuing to perform their duties, despite their alleged involvement in transactions and private interests with territorial groups to which they belong, which, according to the provisions of Organic Law No. 113.14 related to the communes, constitutes an explicit conflict of interest that necessitates the activation of Article 65, which allows the administrative authority to refer the files to the administrative judiciary in order to arrange legal effects, foremost of which is isolation. In this context, the lawyer, Abdul Aziz Al-Qunfud, at the Agadir bar and accepted to plead before the Court of Cassation, sent an official letter to the governor of the Inezgane-Ait Melloul prefecture, calling on him to expedite the application of the provisions of the aforementioned article, considering that the legal text is clear and that judicial jurisprudence has settled definitively on the isolation of elected officials involved in cases of conflicts of interest. The lawyer highlighted in his letter dated December 10, 2025, that he had previously corresponded with the Minister of Interior on the same subject, stressing that a number of final decisions issued by the Court of Cassation have decided on similar files and approved the isolation of elected officials whose involvement in conflicts of interest has been proven, which makes any administrative hesitation in activating the law unwarranted. Al-Qunfud considered that the activation of Article 65 is not subject to any administrative interpretation or interpretation, as long as the text is explicit, and the administrative judiciary has drawn the features of its correct application, stressing that the role of the governor of the prefecture remains central in protecting legal legitimacy and ensuring respect for the principle of linking responsibility to accountability stipulated constitutionally. The letter stressed that overlooking conflict violations would affect citizens' confidence in the elected institutions, and would reinforce the feeling of the existence of "an unwarranted suspension of the law," at a time when the territorial authority is supposed to be at the forefront of the defenders of the rule of law and equality for all before it. These developments come in a national context characterized by a special sensitivity, following the recent official statements of the Minister of Interior before Parliament, in which he affirmed that the law will be applied without discrimination or selectivity, which raises the level of expectations regarding the fate of this file locally. Observers believe that this issue is no longer just legal correspondence, but has turned into an actual examination of the extent to which the territorial administration in Inezgane-Ait Melloul is committed to implementing the provisions of isolation, and restoring the principle of integrity within the elected councils, in a way that cuts off the logic of impunity. The question remains: Will these letters be translated into practical decisions that put an end to conflicts of interest, or will the file remain pending despite the clarity of the law and the administrative judiciary's decision in its counterparts?
