In recent days, the press has hinted at a return of ” clogs » to the capital of the Kingdom, after the “OK given by the mayor, Asmaa Rhlalou. A decision which is not yet official, we are told, and which otherwise would be in ” at odds with justice“, especially after the decisionin 2016, of the administrative court of Rabat, concerning the illegality of clogs.
According to some media, the municipality of Rabat, led by the RNIiste Asmaa Rhlalou, has decided to resort again to the immobilization of vehicles with clogs, with the aim of ” get Rabat Parking back on track”which is at risk of bankruptcy.
Joined by MoroccoLatestNews UK on this subject, Omar El Hyani, municipal councilor for the Federation of the Democratic Left (FGD) in Rabat, told us that nothing is official for the moment.
” We also heard the news through the press. We asked that the item be placed on the agenda for the February session, scheduled for next Tuesday, but she (the mayor) refused. We were notified of a rejection letter that we received this week. So she refuses to discuss this point“, he pointed out.
Also, the municipal council recalled the judgment pronounced by the administrative court of Rabat, which dates from 2016, and which prohibits the use of clogs because it hinders the movement of people conferred by the Constitution.
” We proposed, to the current Council and even to the one before when the PJD was there, alternatives to the sabot. People have to pay for parking, that’s obvious. But among these alternatives, there are fines. And if people do not pay these fines, we send them to them, either by mail with penalties, or they find them in additional payment of the sticker or other. This is what is done in other countries“, suggests Omar El Hyani.
To add: ” Except that there, we insist on having a hoof system that is 30 years old. Since paid parking started in Rabat in the mid-90s, that’s what was in effect, and these people don’t want to change it“.
About the ” will of the mayor of Rabat to save society Rabat-Parking, where the city holds 51% of the shares, of bankruptcy, Omar El Hyani maintains that the advisers of the FGD have always wanted the company to be saved, something they have been demanding for 5 years, ” knowing that the husband of Mrs. the mayor was even chairman of the board of directors of the company“.
” We have always demanded the rescue of the company. There were reports from the Court of Auditors, there were debates on Rabat Parking during the previous mandate, while no discussion was opened during the current one. But the mayor has always refused to talk about Rabat Parking. We proposed innovative solutions, but no one ever did. And there, what we are taught is just to return to a 30-year-old solution. This is unacceptable“, he denounced.
Furthermore, Omar El Hiyani insisted on recalling that the company Rabat-Parkinghas never interrupted its services. “We always had to pay when parking. It is the clog that was no longer on the agenda due to the decision of the Rabat court in 2016. This means that the mayor is today going back on a court decision, with which she is in the process of to be out of whack“, he concluded.