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Rabat – Mohamed Amkraz, Morocco’s Minister of Labor and Vocational Integration, has said that the Ramadan night curfew was a necessary and much-welcome decision amid fears of yet another COVID-19 wave.
Speaking on Tuesday during the parliament’s weekly plenary session devoted to oral questions, Amkraz said that the government’s “priority is to preserve the souls of Moroccans.”
Critics of Morocco’s continued COVID-19 emergency measures have lambasted the government for making life harder for Moroccans, especially the low-income families struggling to barely survive.
For amkarza, however, the Ramadan night curfew was necessary to protect people’s health. Rather than cutting off livelihoods, he explained, the measure is meant to save lives.
The government “ cannot do miracles, but we are treating this pandemic as best as we can,” he added.
Morocco’s government announced the night curfew a week before the beginning of Ramadan on April 14.
The night curfew begins at 8 p.m. and ends at 6 a.m.
Business owners, especially cafe and restaurant owners, were taken aback by the government’s decision to implement the night curfew in Ramadan.
Citing their financial continued, pandemic-induced struggles, cafe owners urged the government to reverse its night curfew decision.
At the parliament on Monday, Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Green & Digital Economy, explained some of the government’s accompanying measures for businesses impacted by the night curfew.
He said that he had extensively discussed the topic with Mohamed Benchaaboun, the Minister of Finance and chair of the Economic Watch Committee.
Hafid Elalamy said that he was among the first and most earnest proponents of the “keep business open” thesis at the beginning of the pandemic, but he noted he agrees with maintaining the night curfew in Ramadan due to the increase of COVID-19 cases.
The measure is part of Morocco’s state of emergency, which has been in effect since March 2020.
