Historic vote for Moroccans



ABU DHABI // Expatriate Moroccans are being offered the chance to take part in the country's constitutional referendum this weekend.

They have been invited not only to cast votes at the Moroccan embassy, but also to count them in a process that will last from Friday until Sunday evening.

Mohamed Boudrif, the deputy head of mission at the Moroccan Embassy in Abu Dhabi, said allowing the public to count the votes was both a matter of transparency and a way of guaranteeing people a freedom of choice.

"Most of them - the citizens - are going to participate in counting the votes," said Mr Boudrif. "This is very, very important, and it's the same thing for counting the vote, for the whole process, to guarantee to Moroccans to make their choice freely," he said.

The process will be supervised by an appointed bureau.

The referendum will decide whether or not King Mohammed VI's proposed new constitution will be adopted.

If passed, the constitution - which the King unveiled earlier this month during a televised broadcast - would result in the monarch being stripped of some of his power in a bid to introduce democracy to the North African country, which weathered this year's Arab uprisings.

Pro-democracy protesters have questioned how the proposed constitution would affect the country; for others, there are no misgivings.

"Yes, I am voting," said Emtessar, a 25-year-old from Mohammédia, who spoke through a translator.

The housewife, who did not wish to give her surname, said that only a "few" people in Morocco understood the changes the reform would bring to the country, but she believed most people would vote anyway. Emtessar, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for six years, suspected that almost "90 per cent" of those who voted would do so in favour of the constitution.

She said she would vote for the constitution.

"First of all, it will help free the youth and help them find a job. Second of all, it will help the Moroccan people, living at home, to have more freedom. Most importantly, it will give Moroccans all kinds of pride.

"It may even help fight crime."

Others are less confident. "Yes, I'll be voting, and yes, it will be OK for the people, but I don't think there will be a big difference if the constitution is passed," said Reda Noussir, from Casablanca, who has lived in Abu Dhabi for 12 years. Mr Noussir, who works in investment, said that whatever the outcome, it was important for Moroccans to take part in the historic vote.

"It is important, for the people, to know what everyone is thinking," he said.

Mr Boudrif said there would be no interference in how people voted.

"We have very clear instructions, from Morocco, not to interfere, or to influence people about their choice," he said.

"They should choose as they like, freely. Our job is to explain the content of the constitution as much as possible."

Chadia Ratibi, 24, a waitress at Marmar, a local Moroccan restaurant, said she could not get fully excited about the vote, because she was so far away from her home.

"I am only 50 per cent happy," she said through a translator, "but for my friends and family, it is all they talk about. When I call them, all I hear is them talking about it." Ms Ratibi will vote on her day off this coming weekend.

Voting will take place at the Moroccan Embassy, in Abu Dhabi, and the Moroccan Consulate in Dubai.

The people of Morocco, said Mr Boudrif, would vote out of their "respect" for the king, who has held power since his father, King Hassan II, died almost 12 years ago.

"Moroccans believe him, and have confidence in him."

For some expatriates, such as 29-year-old Aziz El Gouzouli, from Agadir, confidence was to be found in fellow Moroccans.

"In my eye, the 2011-referendum will foster an unprecedented constitutional achievement for Moroccans. After nine weeks of peaceful marches swarming the country from top to toe calling for a new Morocco ... the government has reasonably paid a sharp-eared response to pro-reform demonstrators' social and economic demands.

"This obviously indicates to what extent Morocco would not be another Tunisia, Egypt or Libya."

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The Travel Diaries of Albert Einstein The Far East, Palestine, and Spain, 1922 – 1923
Editor Ze’ev Rosenkranz
​​​​​​​Princeton

How to protect yourself when air quality drops

Install an air filter in your home.

Close your windows and turn on the AC.

Shower or bath after being outside.

Wear a face mask.

Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.

If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.

The bio

Studied up to grade 12 in Vatanappally, a village in India’s southern Thrissur district

Was a middle distance state athletics champion in school

Enjoys driving to Fujairah and Ras Al Khaimah with family

His dream is to continue working as a social worker and help people

Has seven diaries in which he has jotted down notes about his work and money he earned

Keeps the diaries in his car to remember his journey in the Emirates

Normal People

Sally Rooney, Faber & Faber
 

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Founder: Areej Selmi
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Day 1 results:

Open Men (bonus points in brackets)
New Zealand 125 (1) beat UAE 111 (3)
India 111 (4) beat Singapore 75 (0)
South Africa 66 (2) beat Sri Lanka 57 (2)
Australia 126 (4) beat Malaysia -16 (0)

Open Women
New Zealand 64 (2) beat South Africa 57 (2)
England 69 (3) beat UAE 63 (1)
Australia 124 (4) beat UAE 23 (0)
New Zealand 74 (2) beat England 55 (2)

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Gertrude Bell's life in focus

A feature film

At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.

A documentary

A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.

Books, letters and archives

Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.