Moroccan Anti-Corruption NGO Accuses Government of Silencing Public Meetings

In a press release, the NGO cites the ban on a discussion meeting devoted to the subject of budget transparency in the management of public funds, on Thursday, January 21, 2021, after its launch in a hotel in Rabat. The NGO’s surprise is all the greater since all the necessary measures of prevention and protection against Covid-19 have been respected. To this ban is added a second, of a second meeting on the 2020 corruption perception index which was to be held on Thursday, January 28, 2021 within the same hotel establishment, in "violation of the international conventions ratified by Morocco in this matter, the 2011 constitution and the laws governing public freedoms in our country," denounces the association which has seized the Wilaya of Rabat to find out about the reasons for this measure.

By moving from 80th to 86th place with a score of 40 out of 100, Transparency Maroc indicates that the phenomenon has worsened over the past four years, deploring "the absence on the part of the State of signs and a willingness to seriously fight corruption". As proof, laments Transparency Maroc, at the beginning of 2020, the majority of deputies in the House of Representatives decided by common agreement to remove custodial sentences in the event of illicit enrichment, when examining law n°16.10 amending and supplementing the provisions of the Penal Code. This, in contradiction with a commitment made to the UN in 2003 and ratified in 2007 by the kingdom which, until now, does not have a law on conflict of interest, particularly in the field of public procurement.

Just as the National Authority for Integrity and the Fight against Corruption still lacks a law that guarantees it "independence, the means and the possibilities of investigation". The association also insists on the need for a reform of the laws relating to the declaration of assets as well as the "effective protection of witnesses and whistleblowers of corruption".

With its 86th global position, Morocco is ranked ninth out of 19 Arab states in 2020. The top performers are Denmark and New Zealand, which occupy the top spots in the global ranking, with a score of 88/100. Syria, with 14 points, and Somalia, 12 points, are the bottom of the class, concludes Transparency.