It was unusual to say the least to hear the first Moroccan television channel pronounce the name of Mohamed Saad Berrada when the images of the reception by Mohammed VI, at the royal palace in Rabat, of the new members of the government were broadcast on Wednesday October 24. . Walking towards the standing sovereign in the throne room, the newly minted Minister of Education bowed his head several times, his face tense, before kissing the monarch’s right arm.
In his position, Mr. Berrada presents an unorthodox profile: he is a businessman who built his fortune in confectionery and chocolates. The very serious online newspaper Médias24 designates him as “the great enigma of redesign”. Neither an elected official nor a senior civil servant, with no experience in public affairs and having never taught, nothing in his career destined him for his new position. Except that this little-known character is a close friend of the head of government, Aziz Akhannouch. “The two have known each other since the 1980s”slips the director of a large company.
But the newspapers mainly focused on the seat that Mr. Berrada has occupied since 2019 on the board of directors of the company Afriquia Gaz, a subsidiary of the Akwa holding company, majority owned by the Akhannouch family. Because the reshuffle highlighted the links that the conglomerate, active in energy, tourism and the media, maintains with part of the ruling class in Morocco.
Risk of “clientelistic purposes”
This proximity is even clearer in the case of Amine Tahraoui, now Minister of Health. He was a senior executive at Akwa, even working for Salwa Akhannouch, the billionaire’s wife. Through franchise agreements, this priestess of shopping centers introduced major global groups to Morocco, including LVMH and Inditex.
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The irruption, at an unprecedented level in government, of former employees or personalities linked to ” activities ” of the couple is still reflected in the appointment of Wafaa Jemali as head of the National Social Support Agency. Passed by Akwa, it now has control over more than 2 billion euros in aid to the most vulnerable.
“The agency benefits four million households, so its role is strategic. But less than two years before the next legislative elections, the risk that this organization will be run for clientelistic purposes is great”observes political scientist Mohamed Madani. “Given this electoral deadline, he continues, the head of government undoubtedly needs faithful people more than competent people. »
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