Bribery And Corruption In The Ministry Of Foreign Affairs - Morocco Newsline

Aug. 12, 2008 - PRLog -- It is 4 o’clock in the morning.  People in their droves, leaning, squatting or just stretched out on mats or sheepskins have already invaded the street that adjoins the wall of the annex to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rabat.  This section, specialising in the rubber-stamping of papers destined to go to different foreign embassies and consulates, constitutes the final stage in a tiresome journey for a straightforward certification of a signature or the copy of an official document.  An hour before the offices of this branch of the administration open at 9 o’clock, the street is already under siege by hundreds of people.  During this summer period queues are reaching record levels.  Reduced to a state of complete anarchy, the street is transformed daily into a bazaar in which traffickers and brokers offer a wide range of services.  Faced by hostile public servants, overwhelmed by the heavy workload, or disagreeable policemen, quarrels and disputes break out every five minutes as if to add to this chaotic state of affairs.

“I got here at 5 o’clock this morning.  From 8 o’clock onwards people are already considered to be latecomers,” Hasna explains to us, a young girl who has come here from Marrakesh to certify as true a copy of her leaving certificate and her continuous assessment marks.

People can wait for hours and hours.  “I started to queue up at 5 o’clock, handed in my papers at 9.30 (Editor’s note: and was given a file number).  Now it’s half past eleven and I’m still waiting for them to give me them back,” she added.

Before she came here Hasna did the rounds of administrative offices.  First of all, you have to certify a first copy in a certain district of the administration and a second at a prefecture for your place of residence.  “I came the first time last week.  Because of a problem with the signature, I was obliged to go back to my prefecture in Marrakesh,” she throws out.  It wasn’t able to solve an administrative problem in Rabat, “as if Rabat was another country,” she adds ironically.

“Everyone is guilty.”

For those who have a bit of money or who are in a hurry and cannot afford to wait in interminable queues, there are other alternatives.  Brokers going up and down the street offer express deliveries.  For a backhander of between 100 and 500 dirhams these young people can jump the multitudinous queues and obtain the validation of documents in less than an hour.

Accompanied by one of these brokers a young man from Laâyoune claims to have obtained his document in 45 minutes for a cost of 450 dirhams.  “I arrived in Rabat this morning and the consulate closes at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, so I needed to go through these middlemen,” he explains.  When asked about his business, the broker stays on the defensive.  “I only take a percentage of the bribe.  The remainder goes to the policemen guarding the doors and the state employees inside the building,” he opines in mitigation.


Each time that the press broaches the subject, the authorities proceed to arrest people en masse.  “They content themselves with arresting us, the brokers, for no-one can do anything against the employees and the police,” he thunders before adding:  “As you can see, everyone is guilty here.”  There are about ten of them, who have come here for the most part from the town of Salé or poor areas

in the capital, and these youngsters are the only way of avoiding wasting the whole of a day.


Others have specialised in the sale of places in the queues.  “I arrive every morning going on for 4 or 5 o’clock and reserve 4 or 5 places.  Coming up to 9 o’clock I sell them for 100 to 150 dirhams apiece to the latecomers,” this thirty-year-old explains to us as he leans against the wall of the corner café.  The counter service closes at 1 o’clock.  When working flat out, it can deal with up to 300 applications a day and the applicants come from every part of Morocco.  For those who are less lucky, they will have to come back and go through this unedifying adventure all over again.  Because decentralisation is not going to happen overnight, that’s for sure.


A wildcat protest broke out last Thursday in front of this annex of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Worn out by hours of waiting and a complete breakdown in organisation, scores of people condemned the “fraudulent” practices of validation service employees.


The crowd also called for the creation of other offices in other towns.  This service experiences a high volume of demand over the summer months.  Foreign embassies and consulates insist, in effect, that all documentation presented be validated and certified.


Morocco Newsline
www.morocconewsline.com