Ladies and Gentlemen,

First and foremost, I would like to congratulate you on the royal trust placed in you, as this is the first time we meet since you were appointed to fulfill judicial responsibility in courts or public prosecutions. The Council deems the royal trust you earned the fruit of its continuous efforts to develop legal matters and congratulates you for gaining such trust. You have exerted and shown great effort, professional discipline, outstanding competence, and virtuous morals. The Council expects you to observe judicial ethics, show devotion to duty, and be more efficient, while judicial power expects you to rise to the challenges facing the judiciary and justice system at this stage. These challenges are difficult and umpteen; however, you are capable of overcoming difficulties and surmounting problems. Thus, you will have proved that you deserve the trust HM the King, President of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power, placed in you. Keep serving your country and citizens, and keep fulfilling your obligations toward them in a manner worthy of the Nation which has earned us dignity and honor. Our people, who are loyal and true to our imputable values, deserve that we -judges- build for them a judicial system that guarantees rights, protects freedoms, promotes judicial security, and fosters stability and investment, by virtue of its impartial judgments, the efficiency of its proceedings, the simplicity of its procedures, and the easy access to its services.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Many among you have, for the first time, assumed the responsibility of judicial and administrative management of courts despite their long professional experience as judges or prosecutors.

You must know that the management of courts and public prosecutions does not hinge solely upon distinction in the exercise of judicial duties, even though this distinction helps the judicial official in the professional and practical accompaniment of judges and prosecutors. In fact, judicial administration requires far more skills that you may not have acquired in the Higher Institute of Magistrates, and some of you were not given a chance to practice these skills throughout your judicial career as they are associated with various other tasks, including:

• Tasks of judicial nature that involve the management of legal proceedings associated with cases, complaints, and conflicts and their proper functioning are deemed influential; namely the orderly running of subpoenas, the execution of expertise, writs of summons, judicial execution, and others;
• Administrative tasks with a humane touch linked to your relationship with the professional environment. These require you to develop the necessary mechanisms to address your superiors, subordinates, colleagues, justice practitioners, and all litigants, whether defendants or plaintiffs, the truthful or misleaders, and the oppressed and oppressors. They all expect you to fulfill their wishes and pleas, and you will have to listen to them and be careful and compassionate when responding to their grievances. However, you will solely honor justice and uprightness principles;
• The management of administrative statuses of judges and employees, and the assessment of their performance and attitude, while encouraging them to work and leverage their capacities for greater efficiency and effectiveness in professional performance;
• The management of financial resources of courts and allocating them to employees, namely tangible means of work and logistical and information tools available to you;
• Resolving conflicts and settling disputes between your assistants or citizens – in addition to handling administrative correspondences, grievances, complaints, and other tasks.

These are different and diverse tasks; some of which are new to those of you who did not get the chance to practice judicial responsibility tasks before. We are talking here about tasks that are crucial in your fundamental mission, as each of you is considered a leader whose performance will not be complete without the absolute and complete harmony between your team members. You must galvanize them to tap into their full potential and implement a comprehensive and well-defined program, which will contribute to achieving the one essential objective: establishing trust in the judiciary. HM the King talked about this trust in the royal letter He sent to the members of the former Supreme Council of the Judiciary on April 12, 2004, where he said “For the judiciary to earn the status it deserves, it must win litigants’ trust. The latter is achieved when judges uphold the values of integrity, impartiality, righteousness, and seek independence from any influence or interference”.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

I previously addressed your colleagues in 2017 and stated that: “The role of the judicial official is crucial in establishing the solid pillars of the new judicial power. In fact, this phase cannot handle officials’ delay in taking decisive decisions regarding the management of their courts. We are in need of officials, men and women, who will look after their courts in the same way they look after their houses, and care for their employees as if they are their children, by raising them well and ensuring that they are honest, veracious, and successful”.

I feel obliged to remind you that you represent judicial power institutions in your jurisdictions and that the judiciary is a hefty responsibility on your shoulders. You take the credit for its success; however, its failure is also attributed to you. By virtue of your competences, you are tasked with mentorship, managing courts, overseeing the workflow, and monitoring the performance of judges and employees, while calling upon your skills of sensitization, mentoring, and guidance toward fair objectives, as you aspire to follow effective directives and realize righteous objectives.

You are the judicial power’s watchful eye that discerns good and lauds it, and detects breaches and repairs them;

You are the watchmen of the fair application of the law, and you are responsible for the effectiveness of judicial proceedings;

You are the protectors of public order, guarantors of rights and duties, and the guardians of the justice system…

You stand preeminent above all in ensuring the judiciary’s functioning in your jurisdictions. You are also responsible for carrying out the strategy of the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power, which aims at preserving the judiciary’s independence, improving judicial efficiency, modernizing the justice system, preserving the conditions of a fair trial, training human resources, and contributing to the judiciary’s moralization.

You must know, ladies and gentlemen, that all of what I have just said cannot be realized if you do not possess humane values, master management tactics, and perceive governance and mentorship techniques. You should also master dialogue and counseling skills, build bridges of communication and understanding, be honest and sincere, and embody justice values and judicial morals. Moreover, your new duties require you to have a roadmap for navigating your missions, based on determined objectives, transparent procedures, and close coordination between different parties. The latter is founded on ensuring due respect, building mutual trust, rekindling the soul using humane and professional incentives, communication, dialogue, listening, and taking prompt initiatives to solve problems as well as supporting and encouraging good ones.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

On another occasion on April 10, 2019, I alluded to your colleagues who received a training workshop similar to this one that the judicial official is: “equivalent to being the boss of a small business. They must master the art of management and monitor production stages”. I also said that: “the productivity of the judicial business – in relation to its boss- is not represented in monetary or economic gains, but in the positive contribution to the maintenance of public safety and order in their various security-related, economic, social, and cultural forms, as well as in the contribution to boosting confidence in the justice system”.

I am fully convinced that you are CEOs of “businesses”. You are required to conduct an internal audit of your “business’” performance until you are familiar with the level of its performance and the degree of trust it enjoys. Thereafter, you must intervene to redress the balance and readjust matters in order to carry out a positive audit of your courts.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

The purpose of likening the court you manage to a business is for you to think as if you are CEOs who constantly seek profit and continuity. Despite the dissimilar tasks and profound divergence between courts and a business, the success indicators of the person accountable for each one of them are the same. They both look for ways to advertise their products and gain a sustainable profit. Undoubtedly, the person responsible for a court is also responsible for rendering quality, efficient, and transparent services that satisfy litigants. Let us not also forget that the court’s president seeks to build litigants’ trust in justice and bolster their satisfaction with its judgments. Additionally, attaining litigants’ satisfaction necessitates yielding high-quality judicial services within a reasonable time, under lucid and transparent proceedings, and based on the fair application of the law, which constitutes an essential objective.

Therefore, you are called upon to steer your courts toward justice and equity objectives and prepare cases for decision-making within a reasonable time. As such, it is incumbent upon you to expend more effort so as to overcome notification and execution problems, in order to render judgments in a timely manner and allot to every man his due without delay. You are also invited to spare no effort in holding training and workshops, debating over the Court of Cassation’s jurisprudence, and submitting your training requests to the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power to serve the true needs of the justice system. I prompt you to reflect in this regard on the royal directives of HM on the occasion of the opening of the 1^st session of the 5^th fifth legislative year of the 10th legislature where HM considered that the “success of any plan or project, whatever its objectives, hinges on observing the principles of good governance and abiding by the responsibility-accountability nexus. State and public institutions must lead by example in this regard. They should drive development, not impede it”.

You are also expected to support judges’ independence by issuing judgments within a reasonable time without being subject to pressure and feeling free to make impartial decisions based solely on fact and law. You must contribute to furthering and unifying judicial work within your jurisdictions in compliance with well-established principles drawn from the decisions of the Court of Cassation. As such, we await you to establish a judicial family that solves its problems through dialogue, communication, trust, goodwill, and mutual respect. These principles and values shall become the bedrock of this dignified house and shall protect it from slips and encroachments, which we will neither normalize nor accept inside the justice system.

I am looking forward to seeing your positive interaction with the Council’s initiatives. I encourage you to draw up comprehensive reports that reflect the situation of justice and the judiciary within your jurisdictions, in which you contain itemized statistics highlighting the work accomplished and the input of every judge and counselor, Whether in the administrative, judicial, cultural, scientific, or communicative field. Moreover, these reports should also outline an objective monitoring of the existing and pending problems at various human, organizational, legal, and judicial levels, in addition to your recommendations pertaining to the Council in relation to the improvement of the performance of the judiciary and the justice system, particularly as regards establishing moralization, increasing efficiency, and enhancing management, modernization, and training.

Surely, you will grant these reports due attention, and in so doing, the Council will utilize them to design its future strategies. Rest assured that the Council will follow your performance, support your efforts, and provide an appropriate environment for you to fulfill your mission in the best conditions. Besides, you will receive the necessary support from the Ministry of Justice, with which we are working within a joint committee on the coordination in judicial administration. Our collaboration is characterized by cohesion and complete understanding. As such, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi, and his staff, for exerting every effort to support the Council’s strategy and provide the Courts’ needs.

I would like to thank the Prosecutor General of the King at the Court of Cassation who also serves as President of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Minister of Justice, and the Supreme Council of the Judicial Power for their effective contribution to the organization of this training workshop, and for the great effort they exerted to create favorable conditions and set out a comprehensive program. Your efforts have built fruitful cooperation ties and created an atmosphere for serious joint collaboration where judges and their assistants can establish a spirit of trust and confidence.

I am also elated to thank members of the Council, judicial officials, and administrators who shall facilitate this important training workshop. Your contribution adds to your esteem and boosts the constant efforts spared in service of justice. You are most applauded and commended for your undertakings.

Allow me to express to each one of you my heartfelt appreciation for your constant efforts and sacrifices in order to solve management, organizational, legal, and judicial problems. These sacrifices consume your time and take a toll on your health and family, and we barely hear your complaints or dissatisfaction. Your sole purpose is to accomplish the hefty mission you are entrusted with, fulfill the sacred oath you took, and honor the solemn pledge you made to your nation and King. I hope you will pass on my personal gratitude and that of the Council to all of the Kingdom’s judges and to all courts’ employees for their arduous work and strenuous efforts.

I firmly believe that we shall be worthy of His Majesty’s trust and that we will meet Moroccan’s expectations from their judges.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullah.