A POSITIVE ROLE OF THE PRESS SIGNALED BY YEMEN TIMES SEMINAR [Archives:1999/46/Reportage]
November 15 1999
It is without doubt a responsibility of the free independent media to try to encourage whatever good deeds are done by the authorities and criticize any wrong doings as well. Being one of the most prestigious independent newspapers, Yemen Times took the initiative to express its satisfaction what the intentions and good will of the president. On the other hand, the newspaper gathered several personalities from different backgrounds to attend this seminar, and gave turn to 5 individuals from different political backgrounds to give speeches, expressing their thoughts about the latest measures, and similar ideas.
The seminar was quite fruitful in revealing possible new strategies that could help the government achieve the best results in relation to the latest wise decisions of the president.
Statement of the Chief Editor of Yemen Times at the opening ceremony of the seminar:
Members of the Parliament and the Consultative Council,
Members of the diplomatic missions, ladies and gentlemen:
Welcome to Yemen Times seminar held under the motto “Hand in Hand with our President Towards the 21st Century”.
In the first place, I would sincerely offer my thanks to the Prime Minister Dr. Abdulkareem Al-Eryani for the patronage of the seminar and for his continuous support rendered to our newspaper under all circumstances. I would also thank Mr. Abdulaziz Abdulghani, Chairman of the Consultative Council for attending the seminar. I also offer my thanks to all who participated with the working-paper and all the attendants.
The main objective of the seminar is to highlight the citizens’ response, the paper has perceived through following up of what is taking place in Yemen now after the Presidential Elections. Yemen Times has been maintaining its searching efforts and acquainting its readers with the latest developments in Yemen. I dare say proudly that the Yemen Times has courageously managed to face the circumstances which ensued the martyrdom of its founder Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf. It has proved that the founder had laid a solid foundation to enable it to endure the most difficult circumstances, and furthermore to possess the capability of steady development and prosperity.
The death of the founder has to the contrary of expectation, given us an impetus to do all that we could to convince all that the newspaper is able to stand firmly despite all the difficulties.
The newspaper has become well-known for its closer follow-up of the news with more accuracy and speed. The paper is, at present, largely widespread among all segments of the people. In addition, the newspaper has now become widely read by thousands, rather, hundreds of thousands of Internet users. This has motivated us to raise the newspaper’s standard in proportion to the volume of its reader to realize the ambitions targeted by its great founder. Since it entertains celebrity and demand on the Internet, more than any other Yemeni newspaper, it has become the most efficient medium in informing the world on the events taking place in the Republic of Yemen.
The Yemen Times has today reached an advanced stage in teaching and experience. It is now considered as a typical example of journalism in Yemen, as well as in other countries, regarding characteristics of neutrality, technique, configuration, spread and demand.
As it is totally an independent newspaper, it has overtopped papers in winning credibility and the confidence of its readers.
In the recent week, Yemen Times has tackled many issues arresting the interest of various sectors of the people. Everyone knows that the newspaper has focused on problems facing the country, mainly those pertaining to security, Qat, the judiciary system and others.
Immediately after the results of the presidential elections, we addressed a letter to the President. In that letter we expressed our support for him in his orientation towards tackling the very many problems of Yemen. We are so pleased that the President has actually paid attention to the problems pinpointed by the paper. This interest can be traced through the recent measures taken on extending working hours, banning the carrying of guns, elimination of private jails, along with others, which have been received with applause by the paper’s readers and those it has interviewed.
Some of the state-run newspapers are accustomed to praise all measures of the government and abstain from criticizing it wherever it is necessary. On the other hand the opposition press is adopting an opposed stance all the way along. They do not sufficiently demonstrate any praise, even towards good actions adopted by the government for the welfare of the country.
The Yemen Times pursues such a course that courageously singles out and denounces the wrong performance. The objective is an attempt to call the government’s attention in order to rectify the wrong. Meanwhile, it lauds good aim by drawing attention of everybody to that accomplishment. The purpose is basically to encourage the state to maintain doing other similar actions.
Ever since its establishment, the Yemen Times has been working for crystallizing a sound journalistic message and to publish the facts, however unpleasant it may be for certain parties. It has published articles criticizing the state and others praising it. Although those subjects were rather fierce, they were, however, channeled towards the interest of the homeland. Constructive criticism does build, but does not destroy. Those critical topics will continue to appear as long as there is an urgent need for them. And in the meantime they would praise and encourage actions of the state wherever the situation requires. Yemen Times has vowed not to abandon the policy drawn up by its founder. I would like to remind you that my father, the late Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Saqqaf was misunderstood by many people. While the state viewed him as an opponent, the opposition deemed him as pro the state. The fact is that he was an affiliate of neither side. He was an independent person speaking the truth without being biased to any party. And such is currently the stand of the newspaper he founded. It will remain a forum propagating the truth regardless of consequences, for to satisfy all is an unattainable end.
As we are now holding this seminar in praise of the President and the government, I hope no one would be surprised if we hold a seminar opposed to any inconvenient measures that might be taken by the government. I hereby would like to draw the attention that many might think that by holding this symposium, we intend to make up with the state. Nevertheless, even if they thought so, we are convinced in what we are doing. If the president continues pursuing this policy, we will hold more and more seminars in his support. What we are doing is patriotic attitude in interest of the country, not for the sake of a certain group or party.
As Yemen citizens, whether in power, or opposition, or independent, we are nationals of the same homeland. We have to join forces with our leadership to rectify the present situations in the country. This could not be done with bitter criticism or disrespect, but rather through constructive criticism, praise and encouragement of every good action performed by the government for interest of the people.
The Yemen Times is to begin this seminar by greatly thanking his excellency the President for his good initiative in taking the first steps to rid the country of the Qat epidemic which shattered the national economy for many long years and dropped the living standard. It is also for ensuring security by banning carrying guns, and for stabilizing justice through monitoring the judiciary and curtailing within it. We are convinced that these measures taken by the President indicate that he is quite aware that Yemen has to keep pace with the 21st century.
Concluding my welcome address, I feel proud that the President has challenged the forces of evil inside the country and is keen on the citizens’welfare in the first place. The people have chosen him by direct ballot, so the President must not let down his people and should do all what he can to salvage some of their segments who suffer from poverty and ignorance.
Today, we announce by one high voice, “We are with you Mr. President in every courageous decision you take for the interest of the people. We are fully aware that what you are doing now is but the beginning of a large-scale campaign against the corrupt who are tampering with the state properties, and against the gunmen seeking to destabilize security of the country.”The goal of this seminar is to explain that the president’s actions are actually representing the right approach which must continue. And we know that. It is to confirm that we are watching what he is doing for the good of the country. We shall side with him against anyone who wants to hinder the change for the better.
Mr. President, the people have awarded you the legitimacy, and are waiting to receive a lot from you, and we are with you! What is important is the persistence and marching forward for the development of a 21st century Yemen.
Mr. President, do not care about the present silence of the some who had applauded for you before the elections.
Everyone are now applauding for you more than any time before.”
SPEECHES AT THE SEMINAR
Dr. Abdulmaleik Mansour, the Minister of Culture and Tourism has offered his thanks to Yemen Times for adopting the seminar, titled “Hand in Hand With our President Towards the 21st Century.” He praised the press for its contribution to discussing national affairs. He wished that the press would play its role in this world which witnessed a huge development in the field of technology. The world which made democracy in all places until it became a sect at home and school. He addressed to the problem of qat by saying; “The problem of qat corrupted the minds of Yemeni people. It affected our progress. As we come over this disease, this means that we rescue Yemeni people from shame and deterioration. As we do that, we add a national glory towards the 21st century, carrying upon our shoulders the motto, “No qat, no negativeness.”
It was a nice initiative of the Yemen Times to hold this seminar, not just because the subject it dealt with was significant but, more important, it reflected a positive attitude which many do not do. For some parties opposition means the continuous rejection of all that comes from the government regardless of whether it was right or wrong. Moreover, non-governmental press considers the government an opponent at all times and they do not differentiate between their national responsibilities and their party affiliations.
Therefore, the Yemen Times serves as an example for all the independent newspapers in its support of all positive decisions and upright policies of the government. In this attitude the Yemen Times has made the public realize the significance of these decisions and the importance of assuring their application. The prevalent believe that the government is actually capable of achieving what it wants and imposing it is something to be seriously considered. It is certain that the government could make all the decisions which are for the good of the country. It could also apply these decisions as long as they fall within its authorities that are determined by the constitution. However, no matter how hard the government works and takes decisions, still it can not guarantee the achievements of goals targeted in the decision. The reason behind this is that applying these decisions is dependent on the government apparatus.
It is vitally important to crystallize a public opinion toward the issues which concern the homeland and its future. Application of the decision depends on humans running the government machinery. Their performance and belief in the objectives determines the extent of success, as the well-known proverb says, “a ruiner defeated a thousand constructors.” Therefore, if the attitudes of the press were based on the national interest and kept away from negative political influence, it would benefit the homeland and in turn get benefited. In this way individuals could turn into an effective medium in developing the society. As a result of this individuals will develop a sense of trust in themselves and they would turn from citizens ruled by negative attitudes into citizens who are aware of their role in changing the political, social and economic lives in their society.
We have to reconsider the relationship between the government and opposition parties and the citizens in order to make it more positive and proceeding from keenness on Yemen and its future. This could be achieved through developing a reaction that supports all positive steps taken by the government aiming at the best for the country. By doing so we will make the government get closer to the citizens and would therefore develop its belief in the role of the citizens bringing its decision to success or failure. On these bases, the Yemen Times held this seminar out of its feeling that the latest decisions the president Ali Abdullah Saleh had made are very important for Yemen while approaching the 21st century. The Yemen Times felt it is an obligation to support the decisions on banning chewing Qat among the military forces and the security, prohibition of carrying weapons and the change of official working hours.
Despite the disparity of attitudes over these decisions, it is clear that there is a group to which I personally belong, which considers these decisions as positive for many reasons:
1. The phenomenon of chewing Qat has become an ugly social habit. Therefore, it is now prohibited to chew Qat during working hours in governmental enterprises of which the military sector is put on the top the list. Nor is it allowed for any of the employees of these two establishments who is wearing the official uniform to buy or chew Qat whether on duty or not.
2. The new working hours system will certainly reduce the amount of people chewing Qat.
3. Applying the principle of the good example will be one of the factors of success of these decisions. Hence, the high-ranking officials should abide by the new rule so they would not give citizens an excuse for breaking the rules.
4. Adding one day to the weekend holiday and closing schools on this day, according to what was stated, would be a burden on parents who would have to take care of their children on this day. Personally, I wish they had not changed the system of schools knowing that schools in Yemen work on the two shift system. Moreover, prolonging the academic year one extra month would cause a difficulty for students who live in hot areas because this additional month would be in the middle of the summer. All these factors assure the significance of empowering the role of youth clubs and schools in outdoor activities by making Saturday a day for educational, scientific and athletic activities. They can also encourage parents to share with their children because children in our society do not spend enough time with their parents.
5. It is important that the government and its enterprises should educate people about the damages that Qat causes to the society. In addition, they should advise people to direct people towards alternative activities through educational and athletic clubs. The government should also, with the aid of the youth-care fund, provide the citizens with training, education and sports facilities in youth centers all across the country. Furthermore, it could support these activities through holding contests and forming sports teams because people would not quit chewing Qat unless they are given other alternatives which enables them to spend some leisure time with their friends.
6. The chewing Qat habit among women is a phenomenon that we should take care of. This habit is spreading among women and is not affected by the change of working hours. Besides, the majority of women Qat chewers are among those who are married to men who do not work for the government.
7. The effect of changing the time of the official working hours would solve only part of the problem because the majority of the workers do not work with the government; many other live in suburban areas and have completely different life styles. However, the limiting of Qat chewing among government employees is still considered a great achievement. If these employees continued these habits it would be at the cost of their nutrition and their families’ too.
8. Some people question the ability of the government to control the new working hours system. These people forgot that controlling the working hours has been the government’s eternal problem, therefore, we can not reject this new system just because of that reason. We have to develop appropriate mechanisms to make the employees abide by the system. These problems are mere administrative matters and all they need is a strict administration which applies the principle of “reward and punishment”.
9. It goes without saying that the change in the working hours will surely have a great effect on the economy of the family and, hence, on the government. Families would be able to save on electricity, fuel, maintenance and machine use expenses. Also, if the fathers stay at home for an additional day it would save them the daily expenses of going to work and other miscellaneous spendings.
10. We have to remind you here that giving two-day holiday is not a system that Yemen has taken for no reason. This system is applied in most countries in the East and the West. Therefore, our refusal for this system should have some basis. We have to try this new system first for six months or one year then we can assess its value or its negativities.
For all these reasons, we have to bring into being a real sense of cooperation with the government in adopting its decisions which will lead Yemen and its people to the better. Therefore, we must appreciate the huge efforts of president Ali Abdullah Saleh in making these brave decisions of consolidating the safety, imposing the state of law and order and creating the sense of commitment among the army and security forces. We must also not forget his statements about extricating the ugly habits which threaten the health of citizens like chewing Qat and smoking. We all hope that these efforts would not be just seasonal activities and that this seminar would be the first step of the collaboration of the good and influential forces in society. Last, we have to react positively versus government decisions which would be to the benefit of Yemen and its people, only in this way we would be establishing the right working system of the 21st century.
It was a good gesture on the part of the administration of Yemen times, represented by its young Chief Editor Waleed Abdul-Aziz Al-Saqaaf to sponsor this seminar which definitely would come out with positive results.
Being a former Minister of Agriculture, I can assure that the area of land planted with Qat represents a vast percentage of the total arable lands. Those large areas could be used in a more advantageous way. Farmers could use these lands to plant other products like apples, oranges and many other types of fruits and vegetables. Only in this way can we improve the economy of our country by exporting the surplus of fruits and vegetables to other countries.
We can limit and lessen the habit of chewing Qat if we prolonged the amount of the work hours. We can also extend the working hours to two shifts, the first in the morning and the other in the afternoon. For example, the work could begin from 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Next, workers could have a half-hour lunch break before they resume working from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. There are also many other treatments which could be added to the system gradually. However, the government should also put into consideration the conditions of Qat farmers through taking a parallel step to guarantee them a stable income so they would not turn into a bunch of unemployed people and become a burden on the society.
We, in the private sector stand hand in hand with the president in this step. We also appreciate all the steps that he had taken to activate the conditions of the judicial system. This step has strengthened the role of the Judicial System including all types of courts, even the commercial and administrative courts. We also hope that the government would keep a close eye on all courts to check if they perform their work in an appropriate manner, so the cases would not accumulate for months or even years. It would be of great help if the Ministry of Justice sets a period of time in which the courts would look at all the cases, and this period should not exceed six months.
On this occasion, I would like to say that the Yemeni Center for Conciliation and Arbitration is always ready to solve cases of dissension which may erupt between people of common commercial interests, banks as well as any other sectors. In my opinion, I think that the absence of an effective Judicial System causes lots of impediments and this thwarts investors. So if we were able to guarantee these people to protect their investments, emigrants as well as other foreigner investors will invest large amounts of money in Yemen and the local investors will also participate in a more effective way.
The private sector hopes that when government puts forth its next five-year plan, it would treat the subjects that concern the economic sectors with more objectivity. Thus, allowing the private sector to participate in all investment fields of the infrastructure of the country. In this way, the private sector would take away some of the burdens of the government. The private sector also wishes the government would stop its current deflationary policy and also asks the government to reduce the percentage of interests on loans and to introduce new mechanisms to provide financing sources for investments with easy interests.
Following the first presidential elections held in our country on 23 September 1999 which resulted in the winning of president Ali Abdullah Saleh, he started to throw stones on stagnant waters supported by the public’s comprehensive authorization that he obtained through the elections. It seems that he intends to examine the reactions so that he can calculate his next steps more accurately. He understands that achieving noble schemes is just like walking in a minefield and it needs the support of all parties. Here we find ourselves obliged to appreciate this initiative of the Yemen Times under its young Chief Editor Mr. Waleed Al-Saqaaf. It is evident that opinion-making people have to be objective in their attitudes through acclaiming what is good just like they condemn what is bad. Therefore, what we have noticed and seen in the last few days from the president deserves all the support, especially because his government machinery is not equal to the needs at this stage.
Among all the positive steps that the president has taken, two matters stand out. The first is reconstructing the conditions of the judicial system which suffers from clear flaws. The second matter is giving the current government an extra period of three months to define its negativities and aspects for the current disorder. Then, government should specify the necessary treatments. The importance of this step is that it will put the government in a difficult examination of self-revelation. These negativities are a result of the (chaos condition) which the president has complained about and at the same time promised to solve. The president is fully aware that his government machinery, which is supposed to have the ability to determine the types of problems and to think of necessary treatments to solve them. In all occasions, this step requires patience and waiting till the set period is over.
It is crystal clear that the president has succeeded in attracting the interest and support for the procedures that he had already followed. He will also be able to gain more support if these procedures start to take more important and profound measures. For example:
1. Finalization of the institutional structure of the state. This step is extremely important in order to prepare the country for the peaceful transfer of power. After fulfillment of the theoretical part, through the constitution, it is imperative to start with preparing relevant mechanisms in practice. These mechanisms cover the completion of the separation of powers, enabling them to exercise their full authorities pursuant to the constitution and valid laws. It is also to finish the building institutions of independent judicial power, curbing continuous attempts to dominate them, whether by corporations or individuals. The process also includes adoption of measures on development of democratic process by finishing constitutional and legal amendments leading to that end, as well as consolidation of existing freedom on both party and individual levels.
2. Reconsideration of existing security policies and dealing with security question through a comprehensive national perspective in order to put an end to all the phenomena of security wantonness observed in recent years. Such wanton acts are embodied by kidnapping incidents, vengeance, encroachment upon properties and lands, spread of crime and carrying guns. This kind of disorder could not be treated through incomplete measures and not merely by launching a search campaign every now and then.
3. Reconsideration of the current economic policy which conflicts with general economic, financial and administrative reform programme. Although everyone agrees on the importance of this programme, it still suffers from many flaws as a result of the absence of seriousness in combating administrative and financial corruption. The role of the Central Auditing and Accounting Operator must be enhanced and the effects of its reports and recommendations must be tangible. If these were applied, the amount of corruption in the governmental sectors would soon decrease. Legislation should also put a limited period of time for the governmental leaders in ministries and other sectors so that they would not be appointed for more than five years (for example). It also should furnish safety and suitable atmospheres for the local and foreign investments. This would, in turn, provide job opportunities and revive the national economy.
If the mechanism of direct election of the president was the first of its kind in the contemporary history of Yemen, would it mark a watershed with the beginning of the third millenium? Would it make enormous and profound changes in the policies, thoughts, trends and in the people who lived in Yemen until the end of the twentieth century? Or are these changes, if there was a real intention to, going to be superficial and trivial without reaching the soul of the policies, thoughts and people?
To understand the importance and perspectives of electing the president through direct ballot and the possibility of using this new mechanism to make significant changes in the contemporary history of Yemen, we have to make a small comparison with former mechanisms that were used for attaining the executive authority. These mechanisms were either through military coups or through the parliament. Of course, it is well known that many third world countries have witnessed several military coups during the latter half of this century and thus coups have became kind of a political norm as part of the mechanism of taking power, encouraged by the conditions of the Cold War. After the end of the Cold War, many of the countries in the third world have started following the road of democracy whether out of conviction or for political opportunism reasons. On the other hand, the phenomenon of military coups did not completely cease. Take for example the coup that took place in Pakistan on 12 October, 1999 under the leadership of General Borveez. However, these cases are now considered rather odd and are not treated the way they used to be during the period of the Cold War. First, in Yemen, it witnessed the stage of military coups, it decided to build a democratic system through electing the parliament. Then, the latter would elect the Presidential Council which in turn elects the president. Now, they have moved towards the system of direct election by people. The question is, “what is the difference between these three mechanisms?” The difference in brief is that military coups brings a military to be head of the state, for it never happened that a civilian president was elected except in a very few cases.
At this point the question is’ “Does not the change of the mechanism of electing the president by direct election make any significant difference? Or would it be a beginning for a new and different future? We can answer this question by asking ourselves a different one, “Why were the decisions of banning chewing qat among the armed forces, reforming the judicial system and the new working hours system made directly after the presidential elections and not before them?” Simply one could see that the programme of reforming the judicial system was among the electoral platforms of the president, while the decisions of banning qat chewing and the new working hours system were not. The explanation to this might be attributed to the fact that these decisions are not popular decisions because they are setting new traditions in place of old ones which are hard to abide by even if these decisions serve the public interest. Therefore, political parties always avoid adopting the policies which might make them lose their popularity. On the other hand, if these plans were declared before the elections many people would abstain from voting for the candidate calling for them. Therefore, if either of these explanations was right then the reason behind making these decisions after the end of the direct presidential elections could be attributed to the president’s feeling that being elected directly by the people would not restrict him as it did in the past in caring for interests of different political forces in his party or the other parties. At this stage he will do what ever he thinks is serving the public good.
These decisions are considered positive steps and the government should start to put social and economic solutions to treat the negative impacts of the banning of qat chewing decision on farmers and qat dealers. The government should provide them with the necessary compensations to maintain good living standards because many of them rely on qat as a main source of their income. Otherwise, the society would suffer an economic crisis equal to that of the return of a million workers to Yemen after the Gulf War.
Finally, these important decisions are supposed to be part of Yemen’s future on its way into the third millenium and this requires the affiliations of all parties regardless of their political preferences because in the end they all aim for the development and prosperity of Yemen.
If we observe the conditions of Yemen today we would find lots of internationally economic, social and political changes that had been introduced into our society. There is the globalization wave which tend to remove the barriers between markets, and there is the development race, economic groupings and the increasingly large-spread of democracy. There is also the tendency of activating honesty, transparency and administrative calling to account. Added to these is that the world is rapidly changing by dint of the information and communication technologies. This world is dependent on concepts and languages that only broad-minded people would understand.
Our president Ali Abdullah Saleh asserted in his speech after he was constitutionally sworn in that he will spare no effort to fight corruption and treat the flaws in the government in all forms. For example:
1. Improving the political systems.
2. Re-instatement of structure and construction.
3. The national strategy for information.
4. Building the institutional skills.
5. Activating the Administrative Support Fund.
6. Training high and intermediate leaderships.
7. Investment of job surveys output.
8. Linking promotions to an administrative reports system.
9. Activating the role of internal supervision.
10. System of job vacancies advertisement.
11. Activating the role of disciplinary councils.
12. Publishing the Public Services Guide which the government provides for the citizen.
What They Think…
On November 9, 1999 there was a Seminar organized by Yemen Times titled, “Hand in Hand with Our President Towards the 21st Century.” On this occasion a number of officials and lawmen expressed their impressions about the seminar. They also expressed their points of view about the decision of the leadership regarding the limitation of qat chewing, arms carrying, and the abuse of the justice system. After the seminar was over Yemen Times conducted the following interviews with some of the participants.
Of course, these matters you have mentioned before, and the possibility of finding solutions to them. I believe that the problem of Qat is the main problem which interrupted our progress, and by finding solutions to it, we will witness good developments in the third millennium. If we look at the procedures which were taken concerning the forbidding of chewing Qat during working time, we find that they were a positive steps towards a promising future. Are these only our problems? Of course not. There are also corruption and absence of security, deterioration of the economy and currency exchange process.
There are some power centers which intervene in the constitutional rights of the President. In my opinion the true step towards correcting these wrongs, must begin by diminishing the centers of power so that the president can assume his constitutional authorities without intervention of these centers. I see that these have forced the Cabinet Ministers to implement works contradictory to the Ministry plan.
The other side is the water problem, which is the most important matter in the development of the country towards a promising future. But the most prominent problem is that of training and education. We find that education has deteriorated as the Minister of education has mentioned. So, how can we go along with the new technology of the third millennium while our higher education can not serve or help the society to compete with the development of education in the Arab homeland.
Information in our country is contributing in deepening these complications because it does not provide the opportunity to discuss these problems objectively. I believe that information uses misleading ways because it does not participate in disclosing the facts illustrate true matters to help decision makers to take the right stand.
On the Yemen Times recent seminar he said we all know that the President of the Republic had demanded the government to present a paper on all the difficult problems, and to give it three months time to do so. The seminar has come ahead of what it should. The government in the coming days has not presented the required paper yet.
Regarding the prohibition of chewing Qat during the working hours for the military forces, and security apparatus is a good step by itself and the result of this decision will be seen more clearly. So, this is a normal thing if there is no credibility in dealing, one can not implement the steps required.
First of all I would like to offer my thanks to Yemen Times. The time of this symposium was suitable because it came after positive decisions. Regarding the position of Yemen Times we were concerned by the death of the late Dr. Abdulaziz AL-Saqqaf, but we are pleased with Mr. Walid Abdulaziz and his colleagues, who developed and added new systems to the newspaper. What we heard about the subjects of the seminar indicates that we are in front of a great newspaper, which will witness a promising future.
There is no doubt that the problem is big and deep-rooted, so we hope that this step will go on. We have to do our best to change and to develop information media. If we forbid chewing Qat at public institutions, companies and other sectors, it will lead to positive results.
Cutting Qat trees is a matter in which there is a question no decision which had been taken about it, but we have to begin this work from the people themselves. They have to arrange their working time. I suggested that if the working time continues till four o’clock, it will be better than three o’clock because people can not get Qat at this time and/or instead of eight o’clock, the work should begin at 8:30, where the employees can get rest to pray or to eat something, and then come back to work up to five o’clock. I believe that this time will encourage people not to chew Qat. At the same time, farmers will feel that Qat is not an important thing. They will turn to growing other plants instead.
In some governorates as Aden consumption of Qat will increase because there will be an additional day. In this case we have to find out the thing which must fill the time of chewing Qat. The first thing that we must do is to reconstruct clubs for youth and children, but the local authorities should play important roles in this field. Hence, there must be possibilities in the main cities. I feel that this matter should come among the local authority law.
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