Fouzi Lekjaa had a question for PAM’s rivals in Azilal on Monday: if MAD280 billion could be found for purchasing-power measures he says achieved nothing, why is MAD350 billion for his party’s program suddenly impossible?
“Those who criticize us over this should first ask what happened to the MAD280 billion they wasted in the name of purchasing power, but which achieved nothing,” he told a packed PAM meeting.
“When it came to finding MAD280 billion for ‘nothing’, it was easy to find. Now mobilizing MAD350 billion suddenly becomes impossible and unrealistic? Come on!”
The outgoing budget minister was responding to criticism of the cost of PAM’s five-year program, which requires MAD350 billion.
He did not name the RNI. He hardly needed to.
Lekjaa referred instead to a party that had “declared itself our opponent” and accused it of attacking PAM rather than challenging its proposals with alternatives.
“We have set our priorities, those we believe are shared by all Moroccans, through 2031,” he said.
“We only ask to be challenged.”
Lekjaa cited the MAD5,000 minimum wage proposal as an example.
“When they came out with a MAD5,000 minimum wage, we said ‘Amen’ and applauded,” he said. “We have put forward a vision for young people in the same way. Let them propose something better!”
He then had another message for his critics, this time borrowing from the Quran: “When the ignorant address them, they say, ‘Peace!’"
The exchanges came during Lekjaa’s third PAM stop in Béni Mellal-Khénifra in 10 days. He had already taken the party’s message to Fkih Ben Saleh and Khénifra before arriving in Azilal.
But money was not his only line of attack.
Lekjaa turned to health and education and said the work done over the past few years was not enough.
“We will never allow women giving birth to die in our hospitals for lack of care and equipment,” he said.
His remarks referred to the deaths at Hassan II Hospital in Agadir under the outgoing government.
Lekjaa put education and health at the heart of what PAM says it wants to do over the next five years.
He also promised measures for pensioners and tax relief for employees and civil servants.
“We intend to provide pensioners with the minimum needed for a dignified life and ease the burden on civil servants and employees through income tax,” he said.
“A good school and decent housing. That is what we want.”
“And we will find the means to achieve it.”
