Moroccan Paper-pushers

Until I came to Morocco, I don't think I understood what the term "paper-pusher" meant.

Every Moroccan is required to visit City Hall for every possible legal reason. Every contract must be stamped, signed, and verified by government employees. Officialized documents are needed for every possible reason.

When you enter City Hall, there is a huge room with are lines in every corner.

At some windows, you must enter your name and personal information in a contract register (still completely non-digital). That register in turn must be stamped and signed by successive individuals as well as the people involved in the contract.

At other windows, documents are officialized. First, they are stamped by one bureaucrat. Then they are pushed to the man next to him, who...well, I'm not really sure what he is supposed to do (...maybe he keeps track of the money you pay the first man?) But the last man signs the document on top of the stamp.

When I went in to get my rent contract officialized, the first man tried to hold up this legal gauntlet for my document. Only after the Moroccan I was with reasoned with him for a while did he agree to pass it on to the second man without delay.


All of this happened back in October. But it came to mind today when my roommate reminded me that we have to go back in to city hall again. Our work permits require officialized copies of our work and rent contracts.

Not the originals, which are already officialized.

The copies.