Smuggling First… Administrative & Financial Reform Later [Archives:1998/02/Law & Diplomacy]

By: Sameer Rajeh , National Tobacco & Matches Company
Smuggling, smuggling and more smuggling, and then administrative and financial reform arise in order to help the economic and social position of the country recover.
Means of Smuggling: 1. Smuggling includes weapons, drugs and commodities which are not of proper quality through Yemeni boundaries and passageways. This occurs with the help of our enemies who aim to shake the safety and stability of the country.
2. Smuggling also includes removing our national wealth by every means possible. Smuggling cultural wealth (antiques and manuscripts), animal wealth (small and female animals), fish wealth (unplanned fishing which leads to the draining of fish out of the Yemeni waters) are all examples. In order to smuggle our agricultural wealth, they help fruits to ripen early by using some chemical compounds like ethylene. This causes the drying out of plants and so destroys the fertility of our land. In addition, there is a widespread qat planting over most of our lands. Fruits, vegetables and grains planted in Yemen are being smuggled outside the country. Moreover, smuggling takes precedence over our imports like food and medicines. All this is unfortunately supervised by some traitor officials in the government.
3. Another phase of smuggling is in paving the way for Yemeni talents and qualified people to emigrate and look for a better living in order to ensure their future. This comes after oppressing all the educated people of the country by ill-treating them (treating people who belong to some areas better than others).
The uselessness of the law and worrying about the future helped to create social and economic problems. Some people helped to create these problems. Many emigrate to find opportunities for work, and others seek refuge abroad in order to establish an opposition against the government. Lately, the country has witnessed some bomb explosions. These explosions were carried out by some Yemeni people who, being frustrated by their bad economic circumstances, were easy tools in the hands of our enemies.
Thus, smuggling becomes an important issue. The whole Yemeni society with its organizations, authorities, unions etc., should raise awareness among people about the prevalent means of smuggling and its aims to destroy the country, socially and economically. We should all mobilize ourselves and plan to bring smuggling to an end. Let’s start by monitoring individuals and authorities inside the country. Let’s bring out their virtues and faults in order to correct them.
By ending smuggling, we will move confidently towards our country’s development and prosperity. Several countries, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Iran and Cuba, were capable to put an end to smuggling despite the American embargo imposed upon them. If the same goes on here in Yemen, we can be assured that the administrative and financial reform process will continue just the way the government planned it. Otherwise, it will be a useless process which helps deepen the gap between the government and the public.
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