September 9, 2008 Red Tape

Local officials have requested yet more copies of documents I’ve already provided them. I gave them four copies of each of these, about three months ago. When I repeatedly asked why they wanted four new copies of each, the only answer I got was that other officials, higher up the food chain, wanted them.

This is red tape. There’s no point in trying to apply logic; it’s paperwork for the sake of paperwork. Part of me wants to rail against the system, the ludicrous inefficiency of repeating my work of three months ago, but most of me just wants to shrug, say red tape is red tape, in Morocco as in America, and let it go.