Moroccan Ministers’ parliamentary promises lack follow-up, study calls for tracking system

Moroccan government commitments made during parliamentary questioning often lack adequate follow-up, with 60% of promises recorded during the 2021-2026 legislative term having no publicly available information on their status, according to a new policy paper by the Moroccan Institute for Policy Analysis (MIPA).

The study, based on an analysis of 125 weekly oral question sessions in the House of Representatives, calls for a stronger system to track government commitments, improve transparency around parliamentary participation and monitor how lawmakers direct their scrutiny across government sectors.

Of the 1,339 government commitments included in the official tracking database during the legislative term, only 534, or about 40%, had a published status update by the end of October 2026. The remaining 805 commitments had no recorded follow-up.

The paper stresses that receiving an update does not necessarily mean a commitment has been fulfilled. It argues that the tracking system should distinguish between promises that have been completed, partially implemented, remain underway or have not been implemented.

Morocco’s internal parliamentary rules already provide for recording government commitments, classifying them by sector and publishing information on their status. However, they do not set a deadline for the government to report on individual commitments.

The rules also state that the government “may respond” to requests for updates, rather than requiring it to do so.

The study recommends amending the relevant provisions to make regular updates mandatory and establish a clear status for each commitment.

The paper also identifies significant disparities in lawmakers’ participation in weekly oral question sessions. Although parliamentary activity increased considerably during the 2021-2026 term, participation remained concentrated among a relatively small group of members.

The total number of interventions reached 10,354, up from 7,124 during the previous legislative term. The number of oral questions increased by 62% to 3,997, while follow-up interventions rose by 35% to 5,612. The number of weekly sessions also increased from 110 to 125.

Despite this growth, 41 lawmakers, representing 10.4% of the House’s 395 members, made no recorded intervention during the sessions covered by the study. Meanwhile, the 20 most active lawmakers accounted for 17.5% of all interventions.

The paper cautions that these figures do not provide a comprehensive assessment of lawmakers’ performance, as their responsibilities also include committee work, written questions and legislative activities.

However, it argues that the lack of organized public data makes it difficult to assess parliamentary participation or track its evolution over time.