Ramadan Concert Controversy Leads to Cancellation in Moroccan City

Organized under the theme "The Soul of Andalusia", this musical evening should no longer take place due to the controversy over the grant of around 300,000 dirhams allocated to an association for its holding. "The decision to cancel this event, presented by an association and which had benefited from a grant, would have been taken in order to smooth out the differences among the majority councilors and to avoid the criticisms addressed to some of them, regarding these grants," says Al Akhbar.

Members of the Tétouan municipal office are accused "of distributing public funds in the form of grants to associations, in order to preserve the alliance that forms the majority," indicate sources in the Arabic daily, specifying that "public money is also spent in order to maintain a potential electorate, or to collect votes to take control of the local football team, the Maghreb Athletic of Tétouan (MAT)".

The issue of grants from the Tétouan municipality to associations in the city has always sparked lively controversy. Fortunately, the services of the Ministry of the Interior in the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma region are keeping an eye on things and calling on elected officials to be more "transparent" so that "public spending is rationalized" and that "the associative fabric is no longer exploited for electoral purposes".