Morocco Cracks Down on "Ghost Workers": Hundreds Fired, Hundreds More Warned

About 300 "ghost civil servants" serving in ministries, public administrations, various regions of the kingdom, or within certain local authorities, have been dismissed from the civil service by the government of Aziz Akhannouch in the first few months of his appointment, reports the daily Assabah, specifying that nearly 500 other "ghost civil servants" have already received a warning.

But this operation to dismiss ghost civil servants does not seem to be carried out fairly, indicate sources of the newspaper, stressing that protégés of ministers, in particular directors of public institutions and elected council presidents, are not affected by this operation carried out in application of a decree which obliges ministries to send the full list of their civil servants to the General Treasury of the Kingdom (TGR) at the beginning of each year for examination with a view to the dismissal of "ghost civil servants".

The administrations under the Ministry of the Interior are the most full of "ghost civil servants", reveals the newspaper, stressing that the phenomenon is also very present in the regions, and mainly in the municipalities. Out of the 880,000 civil servants in the public administration, there are still hundreds of "ghost civil servants", assure the same sources, announcing upcoming dismissals, especially after the controversy sparked by certain elected officials from the Municipal Councils of Rabat and Casablanca.