Morocco’s Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi faced rare public criticism from his own coalition partners on Monday, as lawmakers accused him of stalling key legal reforms and failing to rein in insurance companies’ profits from traffic accident claims.
Speaking in parliament, Ouahbi deflected the attacks with sarcasm, saying, “It seems I’m the only one left in the majority, everyone else has joined the opposition,” in a pointed reference to members of his Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) and the Istiqlal Party, both part of the ruling bloc.
The exchanges came amid growing friction inside the coalition following youth-led protests that have put government responsiveness under scrutiny.
Lawmakers from Istiqlal and PAM accused the justice ministry of allowing insurance firms to “amass astronomical profits” while victims of traffic accidents wait years for compensation under a 1984 law they called outdated and unjust.
Ouahbi said a new bill revising the compensation system would reach parliament next week, promising “significant increases” in payouts based on objective criteria such as age and capital value.
He added that an agreement had been reached with insurers to ensure the execution of court rulings, saying, “We cannot have justice without enforcement.”
The minister also reported that 450 alternative sentencing rulings have been issued since the law took effect in August, but nine offenders were jailed after refusing to complete their community service.
“Alternative sentencing is not reconciliation; it must be executed,” Wahbi told lawmakers. He said further reforms are planned, including changes to laws on bounced checks to encourage judicial mediation and reconciliation in private disputes.
Ouahbi admitted his ministry faced “a real crisis” in enforcing judicial rulings, especially against public institutions and private entities. He said a dedicated fund to finance enforcement is under study.
He also pointed to a persistent shortage of court staff, noting that the ministry receives only 200 new positions per year ,“barely two per court”, and that most new hires are now specialized in digital technologies to support judicial modernization.
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