“Al-Youm 24” learned that Abdel Latif Wehbe, Secretary-General of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, told his party leaders in the last meeting with the party’s parliamentarians that he had spoken with Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch about the issue of supervision of the Rural World Development Fund, and convinced him to dually supervise the fund. Between the Ministries of Agriculture and Housing, the first is run by the Ahrar and the second is run by the Bam.
A source from “Al-Bam” said that what Wehbe spoke about was crystallized in an amendment submitted by the “Al-Bam” team in the House of Representatives, to the draft finance law for the year 2024, which angered the Al-Ahrar team, without reaching any agreement on it following a meeting held by Fawzi Lakjaa, The Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget, with the heads of the majority teams in the House of Representatives last night, and it is likely that another meeting will be held this evening on the same topic.
Party sources revealed to Al-Youm 24 an unprecedented disagreement known to the government majority, due to an amendment submitted by the Authenticity and Modernity Team to the draft finance law for the year 2024, which stipulates that half of the resources of the Rural World Development Fund be placed under the guardianship of the Minister of National Territorial Preparation, Reconstruction and Housing. Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Mansouri, a leader in the Authenticity and Modernity Party, while the other half remains under the guardianship of the Ministry of Agriculture, headed by the minister, Muhammad Siddiqi, who belongs to the National Rally of Independents.
An informed source told Al-Youm 24 that a meeting was held last night, which included the heads of the three majority groups in the House of Representatives and the Minister Delegate in charge of the budget, Fawzi Lakjaa, to resolve the dispute over the aforementioned amendment, which ended without reaching any agreement.
The source explained that the leaders of the “Bam” and “Ahrar” teams remained in contact with the leaders of their parties, without Akhannouch and Wehbe being able to resolve the dispute and bring viewpoints closer on the issue, in light of the originality and modernity clinging to amending it, while the National Rally of Independents rejected the amendment, preferring to keep it in place. The Ministry of Agriculture has the exclusive supervision of the Fund, as it is the sole authority to disburse.
“Authenticity and Modernity” proposes signing an agreement between three government sectors, according to which 50 percent of the fund’s expenditures will be allocated to finance the programs of the Ministry of Housing and Construction, the government sector supervised by the Authenticity and Modernity Party in the person of the party’s leader, Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Mansouri.
An amendment to the Finance Law of 2016, requiring the transfer of the status of commander of the Rural World Development Fund from the Prime Minister, who was then Abdel-Ilah Ibn Kirane, to the then Minister of Agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch, sparked controversy. This is the fund for which an amount of 55 billion dirhams was allocated at the time in the 2016 budget.
Article 30 of the draft financial law of 2016 stipulated that the then Minister of Agriculture, Aziz Akhannouch, be given the authority to order the disbursement of the Rural World Development Fund, which angered the then Prime Minister, who discovered the prank late.
Today, the Authenticity and Modernity Party is trying to “share” supervision of the aforementioned fund with the National Rally of Liberals.
