“Are you the victim of corruption? Then call 080 100 76 76.” This is how a new advertisement for the Center for Anti-Corruption Assistance (Cajac) begins – exhorting Moroccans to say no to corruption! Cajac was set up by Morocco’s local Transparency International chapter (Transparency Maroc) and is funded by the British Department for International Development. Since its launch last January, Cajac has treated some 250 cases; most of them dealing with property rights, complaints about the justice system and stories of abuse of power by local police.
The Center is run by a voluntary staff of lawyers and unemployed students with doctorates in law who take turns working one day a week. Although Cajac’s mandate limits it from formally representing clients in court or filing suit against corrupt state authorities, it does provide expert consultation. As one official explains, “Our role is to provide awareness and give support to citizens. We leave it to the authorities to take the necessary decisions.”
Even if it is just a start, the Center for Anti-Corruption Assistance provides recourse to ordinary citizens who are all too often left helpless in the face of the petty corruption that subsumes their exchanges with state authorities. In a region where political institutions are largely unrepresentative and associational life is carefully constrained, it is NGOs like Transparency Maroc that are able to make the most out of the space available.
Published Date: November 05, 2009