Morocco: The King of the Poor?
As the holy month of Ramadan has just begun, many Muslims around the world are thinking about charity and those less fortunate than themselves. Coincidentally, a report recently released in Forbes Magazine shows that King Mohammed VI of Morocco, often referred to as “the king of the poor” for his initiatives and interest in Morocco's poor, is the 7th richest monarch in the world, leaving Moroccan bloggers to reflect upon the huge discrepancy between their king and their average countryman.
The Morocco Report takes issue with the monarch's spending:
…King Mohammed VI is the 7th richest royal in the world – while I am left here wondering who the first 6 are, the Moroccan monarch’s salary blows my mind, but not as much as the amount he apparently spends daily on clothes and car repairs: $960,000.
King of the poor my left arm.
Referring to the report, Eatbees says:
I remember mentioning a similar report to one of my Moroccan friends while I was still living there. His response was, “I wish him luck getting to number one, because then he might feel he can give some of it back to the rest of us.”
The blogger then adds:
Mohammed VI is popular, professional, and unlike his father, more liked than feared. But I can’t help wondering where all that money came from, whether monopolizing the nation’s economy had anything to do with it, and whether it might be a drain on the nation’s development.
Blogger Hisham from The Moroccan Mirror commented on the above:
I’m glad you’ve mentioned the Forbes piece on MVI: $2 billion man! Isn’t that obscene. I can’t help feeling disgusted by the sheer hypocrisy of this regime. As you’ve suggested: there is a strong attachment to the monarchy as an institution but that’s not guaranteed forever, and is surely not a blank check for the King and his people to keep on with their lavish and extravagant lifestyles.
Of course, with a month of fasting and abstention from vices, Ramadan is a much talked about subject in the blogoma as well (even from those who do not fast).
The Moroccan Vocabulary blog, designed to teach a word of darija (Moroccan Arabic) each day, shares some information on wishing a happy Ramadan in Morocco:
For religious occasions, Moroccans use the expression “3wâshr mbrôka” عواشر مبروكة, which is almost the equivalent of blessed holidays . The answer to this is “3lînâ w 3lîk ” علينا و عليك, for us and for you . Funny enough, I always –wrongly- use the answer “ Allah ibaârk fîk” الله إيبارك فيك, God bless you, which is normally the answer to ”mbrôk” مبروك, congratulations.
Move it or Lose it is frustrated by all the questions she's been asked about her fasting:
I continue to be offended by how often I get asked if I am fasting, following by really? REALLY? Are you sure? When is the last time you ate? What time will you eat again?
Fasting is the invisible pillar. Only God really knows, or is supposed to know if you are doing it or not.
Yesterday evening I was flipping through my du'a book to make sure I had all the biggies memorized, and found the du'a for when someone is bothering you when you're fasting:
“I'm fasting, I'm fasting, I'm fasting!”
The Moroccan Mirror shares a story of what happens when you're caught not fasting (be sure to go and read the whole story!):
I think there is a big hypocrisy attached to this issue: while it's not considered a big deal for someone not to pray; while people who don't pay the Zakat (Muslim alms) are generally ignored, others who don't fast during Ramadan run the risk of being ostracized and stigmatized. I witnessed my self, during my years of study in Casablanca, many instances of that.
Finally, Bill Day from the a la menthe wishes happy holidays to everyone:
Only someone who has experienced Ramadan can appreciate the camaraderie of breaking fast together at the end of the day over harira, dates, and shebekia. And for Jews, today marks the beginning of the New Year, traditionally celebrated with sweets for a “sweet” new year. Ramadan karim, happy Rosh Hashanah, and may we all live more harmoniously together as we celebrate our differences in the coming months and years.
Image Courtesy of Duettographics.com.
25 comments
Abdou: I don’t believe that’s what Gatita was implying. The point is, Bush (and whomever else in the US government) was a businessman before becoming president, and although his wealth is absurd, he is not president for life. And, any money he is making personally from Iraq is illegal blood money – I know that it’s happening, but I also know it isn’t right.
Suffice to say, this isn’t an argument over what’s going on, rather, it’s an argument about what is or isn’t right – and neither Bush or M6 are right in this, in my humble opinion.
Mehdi B – According to Forbes, the Queen of England’s net worth is far less than M6’s. That doesn’t surprise me in the least; she doesn’t hold as many shares as he does.
As a matter of data, I would take the Forbes “net worth” estimates with a large grain of salt. The wounded cries of patriots aside, the recent semi-transparency of the Moroccan monarchy no doubt distorts things (given the utter opaqueness of say the Emirates, and I do mean utter having worked there).
But a bit of analysis. There is no question the Alaoui dynastic family has a great deal of wealth, held privately, and further the Royal Court gets massive subsidy from the State Budget for its operations.
Those are two separate questions, although legitimately interrelated. While some good degree of Palace Expenditure is doubtless justifiable on a transparent basis for reasons of State – diplo receptions, functioning of the Executive, etc. – I am sure some could and should be justifiably imputed on the Alouie dynasty’s personal fortune.
On the side of the King “owning” Marjane and other companies (via the lovely opacity of the ONA holding compnay), that is inexact. The King and immediate family indirectly have controlling interests in ONA, which holds a number of companies (Marjane, etc). However, the Royals are not the majority owners of ONA. Lots of others have a share of that pie. But, as noted, the Royals have both a legal (de jure via shareholding structure) and a de facto control of the company.
Nothing wrong with that per se, private enterprise is a good thing.
However, when the King as Head of State & Executive allows the Makhzen to put the machinery of State to work to favour contra law, regulation and National (versus personal) economic interest by trying to crush or thwart ONA competitors to preserve effective monopoly and thus earn extra profits (not just for the Royals, for the total shareholders of course, who are by extension free riding on the Makhzen exploitation of the situation), that’s bad for the economy. It’s bad for the average Moroccan who ends up paying higher prices for goods in ONA “fiefdoms” and its bad in that Moroccan (and foreign, I speak from experience) entrepreneurs and investors actively avoid trying to build businesses (and thus jobs) where they think ONA wants exclusivity or to be the Big Boy.
Ergo, the Makhzen spoils the free market game, which should be creating wealth, because the flunkies want to extract rents and play little games. You end up then with the average rate-payer and average Moroccan losing out, at the expense of some toadies for no particularly good reason.
Bad for the economy, really against the long term interests of the Monarchy, but does serve the short term interests of some toadies.
Is there a law that prevent kings from being businessmen and having shares in companies and developing their wealth.I agree that they should stay away from taxpayers money, but what if they inherited some money?
Back to Bush, since he came to office,and because of his worldwide strategy, the oil prices climbed from $25 to more than $80 a barrel for the benefit of oil companies .
he is a smart guy.
this is a very “interesting conversation”.
Royal wealth has been piling up since the 17th C. and it is not just Mohamed 6 who owns that wealth. it is true he has his personal wealth but a lot of it is managed through other companies, trusts, etc
He does not stand as a manager of a business man managing “Marjane or Danone”, as some might think. Maybe you do not see him in Marjane and …because he does not manage them directly and does not own them directly either.
Forbs and other voices make things public for a lot of reasons. when people hear the king owns a certain company, they might shy off from any competition with it and they all go to do other things and this is just one way of making their profits perpetual.
maybe a previous comment pointed the bad effect of all this on the morocan economy. that is right from the perspective of wanting morocco to catch up with world capital economy.
if Jillian says “M6 owns Marjane. And he also has shares in Danone & Maroc Telecom” then it must be true but we seek truth and depth in other places like Spain for example.
if Jillian says “M6 owns Marjane. And he also has shares in Danone & Maroc Telecom” then it must be true
Jillian didn’t say that at all. I only pointed out his wealth from business as compared to the Queen of England’s. Regardless, I do not take issue with money M6 makes from being a businessman, I take issue with how much he is purported to spend on a daily basis, and the fact that his spending creates a negative image for the Moroccan public and for Morocco.
im amazed of how stupid some of the comment are here supposedly from educated moroccans!!when mohamed 5 came from madagaskar’ . he had no money at all! so where all this whealth come from…. moroccan people of course
I think Khalil made to most important point in this whole debate. The question we have before us is how the Moroccan amassed this vast fortune, especially in a country that has no oil, mineral resources, industry, financial services, etc…..
The truth this robbery was done in separate eras.
After independence, Mohammed V (and after that Hassan II) appropriated all the Moroccan assets established during Morocco’s status as a French protectorate. Whereas, in most countries these assets were either nationalized or privatized. In Morocco on the other hand they become the personal property of the Sultan and his family. (Does the word ONA ring a bell?)
After this period, Morocco entered the so called period of “Globalization” ( or the era of “The king of the poor”). Where in effect, all state owned services and utilities were privatized. Morocco moved from a state monopoly to a regime monopoly.
The truth is, the present situation is the reason why the Moroccan economy suffers from poor competitiveness, which is in return a major factor of Morocco’s trade deficit and underdevelopment.
Al ikhwan al maghrib dialhoum
I think Khalil made the most important point in this whole debate. The question we have before us is how the Moroccan Monarchy amassed this vast fortune, especially in a country that has no oil, mineral resources, industry, financial services, etc…..
The truth is this robbery has beenn happening in separate eras.
After the independence, Mohammed V (and after that Hassan II) appropriated all the Moroccan assets established during Morocco’s status as a French protectorate. Whereas, in most countries these assets were either nationalized or privatized. In Morocco on the other hand they become the personal property of the Sultan and his family. (Does the word ONA ring a bell?)
After this period, Morocco entered the so called period of “Globalization” ( or the era of “The king of the poor”). Where in effect, all state owned services and utilities were privatized. Morocco moved from a state monopoly to a regime monopoly.
The truth is, the present situation is the reason why the Moroccan economy suffers from poor competitiveness, which is in return a major factor of Morocco’s trade deficit and underdevelopment.
Al ikhwan al maghrib dialhoum
May i take this opportunity to say a big thank you to Lounsbury, Khalil,& Hisham but not necessarily in that order…They can “See” the big picture and are not blinded by ignorance.I have read with impartiality the pro king M-VI views and they are full of flaws,errors and false propaganda.