Fouzi Lekjaa makes first PAM appearance, calls for focus on Morocco’s rising-power ambitions

Fouzi Lekjaa, Morocco’s minister delegate in charge of the budget, made his first public political appearance after joining the Political Bureau of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, or PAM, using a meeting in Agadir on Sunday to address the controversy surrounding his entry into the party.

Lekjaa said he did not join PAM to seek a political or government position and called on politicians to move beyond speculation and focus on ideas, projects and the challenges facing Moroccan citizens.

“I do not want to dwell on what is being said and circulated,” Lekjaa said, arguing that Morocco’s challenges are greater than such debates.

“What the country needs today is a discussion of ideas, projects and proposals capable of addressing the real problems,” he said.

Lekjaa placed King Mohammed VI’s latest speech at the center of his assessment of Morocco’s next phase, saying it offered an evaluation of the country’s achievements over the past 27 years of the king’s reign.

He attributed those achievements to the strategic direction of the king’s policies and the cumulative efforts of state institutions, civil society and other actors.

At the same time, Lekjaa said the speech highlighted the scale of the work still required in the coming years.

He said Morocco’s objective should be to consolidate its position among emerging economies, arguing that achieving that ambition would require progress across a range of economic, financial and social areas.

Those issues, he said, should form the basis of Morocco’s political debate rather than what he described as marginal political disputes.

‘I did not join PAM to seek a position’

Addressing the debate surrounding his decision to join PAM, Lekjaa described himself as an ordinary citizen exercising a constitutional right.

“I joined PAM as a simple citizen, with humility, exercising a constitutional right,” he said.

Lekjaa said he had been honored to receive successive royal appointments during his professional career but stressed that his position within the party was not an objective in itself.

He said the priority was to work “with honesty and reason” and to communicate clearly with Moroccan citizens while rebuilding trust in political parties and institutions.

Trust was a central theme of Lekjaa’s remarks. He called for rebuilding the relationship between politicians and citizens, particularly young people, so they can become active participants in the future envisioned for Morocco.

He said restoring confidence in political actors and institutions begins with clear and direct communication.

Politicians, he argued, should have “one word, not two” and be able to tell citizens clearly what can and cannot be achieved and how far their commitments can realistically go.

Lekjaa said this was the approach he had followed in his work within the government and with various officials.

He stressed that political actors should make realistic commitments and avoid promises that exceed available resources, arguing that such an approach would help rebuild public trust in politics and institutions.

‘Seats matter, but they are not everything’

With the next elections also featuring in the discussion, Lekjaa rejected the idea that party politics should be reduced to winning seats.

“Seats are certainly important,” he said, but argued that the larger challenge was to speak to citizens with clarity and reason and restore confidence in political actors, political activity and institutions.

Lekjaa linked the electoral challenge to a broader effort to restore the value of political engagement.

The objective, he said, should not simply be to win elections but to build a different relationship with citizens based on honesty, clarity and direct communication.

He called for politicians to engage more closely with citizens and listen to their concerns rather than allowing the gap between the public and political institutions to widen.

Morocco has experienced economic and social challenges that require a debate focused on solutions rather than simply identifying problems, he said.

Lekjaa also said Morocco has experienced and young, ambitious people capable of contributing meaningful value to political life.

Moroccans have demonstrated their ability to overcome challenges at various stages of the country’s development, he said, adding that the next phase would require mobilizing those resources through collective work and a commitment to the national interest.

Purchasing power, youth and rural communities

Lekjaa identified purchasing power as one of the issues that should be at the center of Morocco’s political debate.

The issue directly affects citizens’ daily lives and requires a serious discussion about possible solutions, he said.

He also highlighted the situation of young people and the need to make them active participants in development and in creating the added value Morocco needs.

The budget minister acknowledged that the challenges facing the country are complex but said their difficulty could not justify failing to address them.

“We have no choice but to solve these problems,” he said, calling for mechanisms that would allow citizens and young people to participate in development and help shape the country’s future.

In line with that approach, Lekjaa said he was prepared to meet directly with young people and residents of rural communities.

“In the near future, we need to go to young people and go to the rural communities. I am ready to do that, and that is what I want to do,” he said.

Lekjaa said he wanted to participate in future meetings with young people and rural residents across Morocco to discuss ideas and possible approaches to the country’s challenges.

He also called for creating spaces where citizens can participate in decision-making and become active contributors to building what he described as a “rising Morocco.”

From government office to political fieldwork

Lekjaa said joining PAM had given him an opportunity to meet citizens directly and thanked the party’s leadership and members for allowing him to enter political life as a constitutional right.

Without his political engagement, he said, he would have been in his office working on the draft budget law rather than attending a party meeting with elected officials, party members and citizens.

Political engagement, he said, creates broader opportunities for discussion and communication and allows politicians to move into the field and meet young people and citizens across the country.

The challenge, he added, is to create opportunities for citizens to participate positively in shaping Morocco’s future rather than allowing the gap between citizens, political actors and institutions to widen.

Lekjaa concluded that restoring trust and creating genuine opportunities for Morocco will require collective work based on honesty, “reason” and openness to experienced as well as young and ambitious talent.

Such an approach, he said, could bring greater value to Moroccan political life and help advance the country’s ambition of consolidating its position among emerging economies.