Morocco World News
New York, Nov 17, 2012
Less than 24 hours after the trains-bus collision that occurred early on Saturday in the central Egyptian province of Assiut, causing 49 deaths, Egyptian Minister of Transportation, Rashad al-Metini, resigned from his post, saying he “accepts responsibility” for the accident.
Morsi has also accepted the resignation of the Egyptian Railway Authority head, according to AFP.
The accident occurred when a bus, which was taking 60 children on a trip organized by their nursery, was struck by a train.
Stark contrast with Morocco
It is an unprecedented move in the Arab world, where high ranking officials never accept responsibility for their mismanagement of public office. “This resignation, shows that a culture of accountability is taking roots in Egypt,” a Moroccan IT professional, who preferred to speak on the condition of anonymity, told MWN.
“It stands with stark contrast with our Minister of Transportation who held on to his post even after the tragic accident that happened in Tishka in early September,” he added, pointing out that Benkirane’s government should draw lessons from the resignation of the Egyptian Minister.
In early September, a road accident in the Atlas mountains in southern Morocco claimed 42 lives and left 25 people injured. It was the worst bus crash recorded in Morocco, where accidents claimed 4,200 lives last year.
Instead of accepting responsibility for the accident and admitting his government’s failure to curb the deadly phenomenon, Moroccan Transportation Minister, Aziz Rabah, blamed the accident on the “overload of the bus and its decrepit state,” while excluding that the poor conditions of road have been the cause of the tragedy.
During a plenary session of the upper house of the Parliament in early November, Moroccan Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane noted that Morocco occupies the first rank in the Arab world, and 6th rank worldwide in road accident.
