Moroccan Party’s $4 Million Luxury HQ Sparks Controversy Amid Economic Crisis

The construction of the headquarters will cost the party 38.5 million dirhams. However, according to the reports filed with the Court of Accounts of Driss Jettou, the party’s resources do not exceed 37.49 million dirhams. The party explains this overrun by the duties of commitment and contribution, which amount to 21.21 million dirhams, and the contribution of the State, which amounts to 15.81 million dirhams. The expenses also include the acquisition of fixed assets for an amount of 10 million dirhams in 2019, reports Hespress.

The luxurious nature of the headquarters and the fact that it will be located in an upscale neighborhood are causing some unease within the party itself. One of the active members of the PJD, Mohamed Amine Dahawi, did not fail to express his thoughts on his Facebook page. For him, instead of a luxurious building in an upscale neighborhood, the party should "build a strong partisan institution, with the need to preserve the independence of its decisions and strengthen the institutions, take a new direction capable of meeting the challenges... to correct all the flaws, to strengthen, and to maintain the continuity of the project for which we have gathered".

For his part, Mustpaha Grine, president of the Moroccan Observatory for Social Justice, noted that the curse of the Hay Riyad neighborhood has struck the Lamp Party. The man noted that by launching the construction of its headquarters in this neighborhood, the party is missing out on everything that has been its battle since its creation. "The PJD has forged a pivotal chapter in the political and partisan history of Morocco, and has been built on the basis of its proximity to the people and its presence in the slums and douars with the poor and marginalized, to quickly move from the douars to the dawawine and abandon all this in a record time that does not exceed a few years of governance," reports Hespress.

He adds that "the Party of Justice and Development has taken the opposite direction of its beginnings, and does not know why it was created or where it is going, persisting on positions and appointments and accumulating an unprecedented balance of failures and disappointments of the Moroccan citizen". Mustapha Grine stressed that he is surprised to see that the party has "launched the construction of its headquarters at the height of the Coronavirus crisis and the suffering of Moroccans".