As a guest to Fqih Tetouani institution, Minister of Justice outlines the most important legislations and reforms pertaining to justice sector
Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, has expressed his firm convictions that among the minister’s responsibilities is to take initiatives to set up legislations and reexamine a number of regulations that go hand in hand with changes occurring in society; the fact which would ignite a societal or a community debate in relation with several issues and files for questions and legislative updating.
Mr. Ouahbi considered, in his intervention as a guest to the Institution of Fqih Tetouani for Sciences and Literature, during an open discussion meeting about hot issues which interest public opinion, held on Tuesday, November 1, in Salé, that interaction of some social communities with bills in course of process is healthy and a required matter, and it does reflect a sound democratic climate in our country, and also a proof of the vitality and strength of our institutions.
Regarding the interlinked relation between his assignment as minister of justice, and his convictions and personal positions, Mr. Ouahbi has stressed that a Minister remains, first and last, a citizen and a native of this nation and has his own convictions and he is not an idol or a headless body, adding that he embodies his own convictions inside the legislative system that he is working hard to elaborate it in relation with the sector he is managing with all new bills or updating old ones; depending on his political interpretation and his capabilities to produce legislations for the entire society with various components, and this is for the sake of the best investment of his judiciary and legal entourage that assists him to create legal texts without problems or pitfalls.
In exchange for this political and professional interaction in elaborating and producing legislations, and because is convinced of their importance, Minister of Justice does not hesitate to confirm that he bears fully his responsibilities when he presents bills or legal texts, citing the example of many bills that have stirred a debate over the latest period among them taxes bill, which the Minister has not hesitated to confirm that he is the one who has proposed it, and also the profession bill that he has proposed to the government for updating, describing, in this context, the position taken by opposing bar associations to the bill as a healthy divergence in positions and viewpoints; pointing out that the solution to that divergence is to sit around a table of discussion and define its points and therefore find a consensus to overcome possible formula.
Minister of Justice has brought back the on-going debate about those issues to its beginning, raising the question whether it’s healthy to take the initiative of proposing bills and amendments, to create that kind of healthy, important and necessary debate, or going backward and wait for other institutions to take the lead about legislation as an overt alternative?
By tackling the lawyers’ profession bill, Mr. Ouahbi has clarified that his department, as it has done with other bodies such Al Oudul and judicial commissioners, has prepared a draft and not a bill, and to better improve the content of the profession draft bill, he has asked for the opinion of a number of former senior lawyers, on the ground of presenting the bill to lawyers for debate and find out a common consensus to be considered only as a draft bill according to legislative process in effect; Mr. Ouahbi has expressed his astonishment towards the positions and criticism by some lawyers who have even claimed the withdrawal of the profession draft bill and taxes bill.
Concerning the fate of several code procedures and draft bills the Justice Ministry is working on their preparation in coordination with remaining interested institutions and activists, Minister Ouahbi has made clear that civil code bill is almost ready, as for the penal code bill, it has been finalized and will be submitted to the government secretariat general, the same thing is about the bill for Al Oudul which will be ready and be submitted according to legislative process in effect after completing debate about some of its remaining chapters.
Minister Ouahbi has stated that the penal code will be published to the public by the end of next January so that citizens would express their opinions about its content.
Mr. Ouahbi said that he is very open-minded and that change requires some boldness, confirming that there are two matters still under debate which are family status bill and penal code bill to be disclosed by next January to get to know Moroccan’s opinion.
On the other hand, Minister Ouahbi has talked about improving justice courts reception facilities and his determination to build at least seven family courts, underlining that his department is giving great importance to assist would-be married women and bring social assistants to inform them about their rights and obligations.
The Minister has seized this opportunity to talk about the relationship that bounds him with the judiciary power, which he has confirmed it is built on mutual respect and full respect to each party’s competencies, stressing that his role is to provide all means to Moroccan justice to offer Moroccan citizens the conditions for a fair trial and also his keen attention he pays for the ministry’s staff.
