An open letter to His Excellency the President & the constants [Archives:2006/948/Opinion]

By: Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Tarb
This is my third letter on the occasion of this great event and date in the life of the Yemeni nation, the 16th anniversary of 2 May 1990. The anniversary of this year does, however, differ greatly because it falls while all are prepared for the presidential and local elections that have been established along with the achievement of the Yemeni unity.

Therefore, I undoubtedly say that you, Your Excellency the President, have always been the safety valve for this nation, nevertheless it is conceivable to have some ones to nominate themselves to the presidential contest, be it they are independent, or through the party or parties they are affiliated to. However, the people have the right to appeal to you to back off from nomination and continue the race in the upcoming 2006-2013, as a constitutional right, for two electoral terms.

All in the homeland are presently moving towards the presidential and local elections, within the frame of the pluralist democratic approach that you have laid its foundations. The country had in the past experienced parliamentary elections for more than one session and one presidential and one local election.

The political forces are now, more than anytime before, demanded to coexist and avoid whatever that could lead to dishonest competition. They have to face each other reasonably without putting wager on the outside or pour oil on fire, so that we can all live reasonably without fires within the frame of peaceful transfer of power and the respect of the opposite opinion.

Your Excellency the president!

You have, with all the honest and patriots achieved the unity without shooting one bullet and thus the masses dream has been realized in depth. You have protected and preserved it when the other attempted to turn the movement of history backwards by declaration of secessionism. Is it possible to dream together that your remaining period, according to the constitutional right, would be devoted to the hot files?

1-Fighting corruption and trying or removing its representatives, given that you Your Excellency the President have said on more than one occasion that you know one by one?

2-Is it possible to see a government capable of translating your trends and plans for transferring Yemen into a contemporary state through:

A-Review of laws and modernization of many of them,

B-Drawing a plan for restoring trust for the citizen and the investor,

C-Reformation of the judiciary system and its institutions to keep pace with the reforms wanted at all levels,

D-Treatment of dysfunctions and encouragement of Arab and foreign investments to assist in curbing rates of unemployment and accommodation of labor?

Tackling the heated files would help, in case of the immediate beginning, if not directly before the elections, after them, to be sure of credibility of the regime in the peaceful transfer of power, respect of the opposite opinion, to enhance the concept of democracy and participation away from bickering and then the opposition parties would form a shadow government for upcoming parliamentary, presidential or local elections.

Would this be realized and demonstrate Yemen as capable continuously of surprising the world as the Yemen of civilization, originality and modernization, as the unity had been declared on 22 may 1990?

I hope that and wish for Your Excellency the president good health and dignity, and stability, development and prosperity for Yemen under this changeable world, who put wager on which are those who do not read history and contradictions thoroughly.

Prof. Abdulaziz Al-Tarb is an economist and a professor in Political Science. He is the head of a number of professional associations, such as the Arab Group for Investment and Development
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