HIBAPRESS – Rabat
In light of the current economic situation, and despite the significant efforts made by many government sectors, Morocco is experiencing one of its most difficult periods in terms of employment. The unemployment rate has risen to alarming levels despite the many ministerial promises and announced programs.
In the midst of all this, the Minister of Economic Integration, Small Business, Employment, and Skills, Younes Sskouri, finds himself today at the heart of a wave of harsh criticism, after many linked the modest results of his ministry to a symbolic image that has become widely circulated in public opinion, which is that the most prominent achievement during his tenure is his move from an apartment to a villa. Despite the fact that such popular treatment may seem harsh or exaggerated, it reflects a general state of loss of trust between the citizen and the political official. When unemployment rates rise to record numbers, and young people continue to face a dead end in their prospects and a void in policies, it becomes natural for personal symbols to turn into indicators of public performance. Sskouri, since assuming the position, has presented a speech based on structural reform and improving the efficiency of programs, but the field results are still limited, and the citizen does not measure the minister's efficiency by the level of speeches, but by the extent of improvement in job opportunities and decent living. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the job crisis in Morocco goes beyond the person of Minister Sskouri; it is the result of economic and structural accumulations that extend for years, if not decades, and is the product of successive governments that have exhausted Moroccans with empty rhetoric, sweet promises, and narrow conflicts, from weak productive growth to the fragility of the unstructured labor market. However, political responsibility remains, because crisis management requires clarity, boldness, and frankness, not technical justifications or the language of excessive optimism. The citizen needs someone who acknowledges the depth of the crisis and proposes realistic solutions that stem from the field, not from offices. The experience of recent years has shown that the employment problem is not a number in the reports, but rather an issue that affects confidence in the ministry itself. Therefore, what is required today from Minister Sskouri is to redefine the concept of political success, not in changing residences or improving images, but in changing reality and restoring hope, for history does not record the names of those who owned villas, but those who had the courage to make real reforms.
