High Commissioner for Planning faces criticism over census threats

The High Commissioner for Planning, Ahmed Lahlimi Alami, has ignited a public debate with threats against Moroccan citizens who refuse to participate in the national census with statements, including the suggestion of “exposing” non-participants.

During a seminar last Thursday, the High Commissioner also spoke about “the rich who do not answer census questions and keep guard dogs at their doors,” urging them to “remove the dogs and answer the questions,” promising that “no one will envy them.”

The legal provisions governing the general population and housing census, specifically Law No. 001-71 issued on June 16, 1971, stipulate penalties according to Article 609 of the Penal Code for “failure to comply with census procedures or deliberately providing false information.”

Article 609 of the Penal Code states that “those who practice divination, prediction of the future, or dream interpretation shall be punished with a fine ranging from 10 to 120 dirhams, and this act is considered a third-degree offense.”

According to Said Maach, a lawyer in Casablanca, what the Commissioner said is illegal and engages a form of distributing citizenship between participants and non-participants.”

The Casablanca lawyer further explained that the laws governing the census are “clear and contain only one penalty for those unwilling to participate in the process or who provide incorrect data,” he told Hespress AR.

He said that “exposing individuals is a legal violation with no basis, and names of citizens unwilling to answer census questions cannot be published.”

 Abdeljalil Hosseini, a former participant in the 2014 census and a specialist in statistical mathematics, stated that “the lack of participation from some citizens in answering census questions will not harm the process.”

The former 2014 census participant further explained that “a Moroccan citizen may have reasons for not engaging with census questions, placing it within their personal freedom, and researchers, as happened in 2014, cannot force responses.”

Hosseini also noted that it is difficult to include every citizen in the census, indicating that this is “among the assumptions made before asking citizens,” and explained that “the majority of citizens in 2014 responded to the questions, while a segment did not, but the results were fully adequate in the end.”