Over 400 'phantom civil servants' salaries frozen

The Moroccan Government suspended the salaries of 415 "phantom civil servants" in 2005, part of a crack down on what is known in Morocco as "the phantom civil servants phenomenon," said Wednesday, Minister in charge of Modernizing Public Sectors, Mohamed Boussaid.

Speaking at the House of Representatives question-time, Boussaid said public administrations are studying means to fight the phenomenon of civil servants who get paid although constantly absent from work and do not fulfil their duties, which causes squandering of public funds and tarnishes the image of civil services.

Ministerial departments are concerned with identifying these civil servants, he added, noting that human resources and general inspection services role will be promoted to control, audit, follow-up, coordinate and supervise civil service.

He said the government controls the state expenditures and has created a human resources data link between the various ministerial departments, the Treasury and the National Fund for Retirement.

Morocco counts about 700,000 civil servants whose wages absorb over MAD 60 billion (Euro 5.4 billion) a year, that is 12.5% of GDP.