Our government if fighting corruption

Moroccan Minister of Equipment and transport, Abdel Aziz Rabbah, said that his government intends to introduce all means of comfort for civilians and attempt to regain society’s trust in governmental institutions. Abdel Aziz Rabbah is a politician that his opponents and supporters predict to be one of the important people in Moroccan politics. In a frank interview, Rabbah spoke to Arabstoday about various social issues, including road transport, the problems of sand quarries and fishing on the high seas, and about the partisan harmony inside Benkirane government, as well as the fight against corruption. Arabstoday: Some observers have noticed that there is a lack of harmony in your government and its parties.  How would you evaluate the performance of the government after 6 months of being in power? Abdel Aziz Rabbah: What we should focus on is the discussion about our political life and the participation of the media, civil society associations, and the activists on public affairs issues. As for the dispute that you mention amongst the government coalition, it is a normal thing.  Disagreements are important and useful, but what is more important is that the government is working now in a harmony and full co-operation and under the supervision of the President of the government - and that they are progressing. AT: You announced your willingness to modify the Highway Code. What exactly is wrong with the current Highway Code and what are the changes you intend to suggest? AR: The Highway Code law has been applied for a year now, and this requires a group gathering between institutions, activists and concerned people to apply it.  It will affect civilians, drivers and professionals - as well as contribute to reduce traffic accidents.  We have already started the evaluation and studying processes, and we have prepared an initial concept for the second copy of the Code, which will be approved by institutions, professionals and activists to discuss and to highlights a common vision to contribute to the reduction of traffic accidents, and to organise the traffic sector in our country. AT: You built your strategy in the Justice and Development Party on the slogan “Fighting corruption”, but you still have not provided a file of corruption to the judiciary, even though many ministers in your party talked about big imbalances in sectors they supervise.  How do you explain that? AR: Our government is fighting corruption in unconventional ways, including implementing a transparency decree, drafting mechanism to fight bribery and we are trying to ensure fair competitive conditions, to handle the imbalances first.  We will introduce the necessary services for civilians, and refine their livings, in order to regain their trust in the country’s institutes. We are working to achieve this, and if we discover a corruption file we will convey it to the judiciary without any hesitation.  But the people are waiting for our response to their needs, and this what we are working on now and this is what we want to achieve depending on the available possibilities. AT: Various reactions followed your decree about the regulations from those who benefited from the "ex gratia" of road transport.  How are you dealing with the media reactions? AR: When we decided to reveal the regulations of those who get benefit from ex gratia, which allowed them to get licenses for buses and taxis, this was not to appear as a hero, but to respond to the constitutional requirements that the Moroccan people voted for.  We care about returning the national strategy of rehabilitation to the sector, and about meeting the Moroccan people needs and professional expectations.   We organised in this regard many meetings with a group of partners, activists and professionals, and we are about to put the finishing touches on the project, in order to discuss it and highlight its final vision for it. AT: Some people accuse you of being selective in who you chose to get benefits from the transportation licenses and ignore others.  The critics also say that you don’t want to talk about the regulations for the beneficiaries of fishing licenses on the high seas.  What is your response? AR: First of all, fishing licenses on the high seas do not belong to the Ministry of Equipment and Transport.  As for being selective, it is not true at all. The accusation that we avoided some beneficiaries is simply not true.   AT: Your defense on project “tramway" saw you withdraw from one of the sessions in which you faced criticisms. How can we understand your situation with a clear opposition from your leaders in Justice and Development Party for this project? AR: First of all, I did not withdraw from the session because they were attacking me, but because the proper conditions of the session were not available.  We organised a press conference after that and we contacted the mass media and civil society institutions, and we are always welcoming any discussion. I strongly believe that the “tramway” project is one of the important projects that the political and economical activists differ on, not only in Morocco, but in the whole world.  There are many points of view on dealing with this project and different economical, social and developmental approaches, leaders in Justice and Development Party, the Socialist Union, Progress and Socialism, and Independence Party refused it but others accepted it from the same parties.