Morocco to Criminalize Taxi Drivers Refusing Passengers, Sparking Debate

In the eyes of many Moroccans, considering the refusal of some taxi drivers to transport customers as a misdemeanor or an offense is a "step towards criminal repression and the end of the extortion practiced by some taxi drivers and their unacceptable behaviors, which sometimes reach the point of seizing the goods that the customer may have inadvertently forgotten in the taxi." Professionals are not against the improvement of their sector. "Professionals do not oppose the improvement of the sector to make it stronger, more organized and structured, in order to curb the deviant behaviors adopted by some drivers," declares to Hespress Mustapha El Kihel, secretary general of the Moroccan Democratic Union of Transport, evoking a legal void. "The sector is governed by dahirs, and it really needs to be liberated. There is a legal void, because in the Highway Code, we do not find any sanctions; we find them rather in prefectural decisions that can go as far as the seizure of the vehicle if it is proven that a professional driver has committed an offense," he specifies.

El Kihel sees it as a bad omen that the transport sector is still exclusively regulated by the Ministry of the Interior. "The authority is in the hands of the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees this sector. However, it is surprising that the taxi sector remains outside the supervision and competence of the Ministry of Transport and Logistics, unlike other professional sectors," he is surprised, noting that this has an impact on the sector. "The Ministry of the Interior insists on its exclusive supervision of this sector, but there is a stagnation, because each ministry claims that it cannot intervene in the competences of the other. We need courage to propose a comprehensive law on transport," adds El Kihel, specifying what the sector really needs. "Offenses are currently punished by the competent authorities, and any citizen to whom a driver refuses transport has the right to file a complaint with the police, but it is not necessary to turn this into a misdemeanor or a crime. What we need is a radical change to improve the taxi sector," he continues. According to him, "talking about taxis with a lot of bias prevents us from seeing the root of the problem, namely the need to end the organizational chaos that reigns in this sector."

"Professionals are not against what is legal, and that is why we have been demanding a Transport Code for a long time. [...] In protecting citizens, we must also take into account the interests of professionals, that is to say that there must be clear guarantees, because the taxi driver is more under the administrative authority than the judicial authority, and it is therefore currently the Ministry of the Interior that takes care of the disciplinary measures," adds Mustapha Chaoune, national secretary general of the Democratic Organization of Multimodal Transport and Logistics. He insists on the need to adopt a new Transport Code. "When the Transport Code is adopted, it will refer to articles of the new Penal Code. As long as this is not done, the law cannot include sanctions, since transport is not part of the competences that the Ministry of Justice can regulate." According to him, the Code, which the Ministry of Transport and Logistics must develop, will be a complete reform of this sector, currently governed by old and obsolete laws that are no longer able to meet the urgencies of the profession.

Chaoune also believes that the taxi driver cannot be held responsible for all the dysfunctions in this sector. To support his argument, he argues: "There will be pleadings and a defense of the drivers, but this will not be done to the detriment of a good service for the citizens. It is a matter of ensuring that this link is more adapted, of better quality and more consistent, without tensions; the drivers who refuse to transport customers do not represent the entire sector, but we insist on the need to offer quality services."