The Moroccan government kicked in touch, this Thursday, a question on the declaration of Yennayer as a national holiday. “We are going to celebrate the Amazigh New Year,” declared Mustapha Baïtas, Minister Delegate in charge of Relations with Parliament, spokesperson for the executive.
On the other hand, he lingered on the measures taken by the Akhannouch cabinet in favor of the promotion of the Amazigh language. “The government has allocated 200 million dirhams for this purpose in the 2022 finance law, and in the current 2023 finance law, it has devoted 300 million dirhams to the same file”, he said.
The Minister also cited the “preparation of an action program for the integration of the Amazigh language in public administrations, the publication of the circular on the activation of measures and procedures related to the integration of the language Amazigh in public administrations”. Baïtas especially focused on “the hiring of 460 assistants in charge of reception and orientation to facilitate access to public services” for people who speak Amazigh, as well as “the recruitment of 60 telephone operators of the Amazigh language to respond to a set of requests”. And to announce the publication, in the coming months, of the Amazigh edition of the Official Bulletin.
A year ago, Minister Baïtas declared that “the important thing is that we celebrate the Yennayer as it should” but without revealing the government’s position on the demands of Amazigh civil society to establish this celebration as a public holiday.
As a reminder, the National Rally of Independents (RNI) had tabled, in January 2021 in the House of Representatives, a bill recommending setting January 13, a public holiday, for the celebration of the Amazigh New Year. A legislative initiative which had been defended by Mustapha Baïtas, then deputy.