Dear Yemen: Where to? [Archives:2006/979/Opinion]
Moneer Al-Omari
Yemen, over ages, used to be one unified country. It was separated for the first time in its history in 1839 when British forces occupied Aden. Imamate state in the north of Yemen was unable to defend the weaker Aden and further the British forces extended their sway to include other coastal areas in the south of Yemen, thus separating the north from the south.
For one hundred and fifty years, Yemen was separated, but it was able to restore its unity again in 1990 with much struggle and efforts exerted by faithful Yemeni people.
The unification in 1990 was a turning point in the history of Yemen in particular and the area as a whole in general. Yemen's unity was achieved while other countries were suffering from separation and disintegration. Reunification of Yemen was a source of admiration for those following Yemeni affairs.
Most observers believed Yemen would play a great role in the area as it, with unity, became stronger and wider than ever before. The two opposing and conflicting countries became one country, so resources spent on war and equipments could go towards the general interest of Yemeni people.
Following the reunification, Yemen adopted democracy and a multi-party system as well as human rights. Additionally, parties were allowed work openly throughout governorates. Freedom of expression and opinion were allowed and a large number of papers and magazines were allowed to publish. Human rights were adopted.
These positive points encouraged democratic countries to praise the Yemeni experience and consider it to be the first democratic country in the area. Further, Upraising Democracies Forum were tempted to hold their conference in Sana'a.
However, these positive steps witnessed quick deterioration and democratic practices started to experience a dramatic and tragic setback at all levels. Freedoms were restricted and the controls over media became harsh. Such freedoms are ensured only in case they paid no harm to the regime or its corrupt officials. Human rights were violated in spite of newly formed Ministry for Human Rights and there are countless examples of human rights violations. For all these reasons, Upraising Democracies Forum decided to deprive Yemen of its membership.
Additionally, journalists suffered a lot with newspapers subjected to pressure, trials and closing for no clear reasons – only their inclination to object authorities. Many journalists were subject to abduction, beating and harsh treatment.
It is true that Yemen has built good relations at the international level and Yemeni voice is heard throughout the world. Such success cannot be denied. Yet, internally Yemeni policy is a great failure.
In order for Yemen to develop, government should be open to all developments and to adopt anti-corruption programs as corruption deprives Yemeni people of their own rights. It should deal with matters in a transparent and clear way. Parties should be given equal chances to present themselves and their programs. Army, media and public jobs should not be exploited for the sake of any party and they should be neutral.
Further, freedoms should not be restricted, only in cases these freedoms are harmful to the country. Pressure should not be imposed upon newspapers as they are the mirrors that reflect the realism within society. Margin of freedom of pinion and expression should be expanded to the maximal point and other freedoms should be ensured.
Contrary to optimistic estimates who viewed Yemen as a giant economic entity in the region, Yemen's economy suffered successive deterioration and the Yemeni government found their solution by turning their backs to all the problems afflicting the economy.
There lie many reasons behind such deterioration. These problems can range from corruption and miscalculations by Yemeni leadership, who lacked political insight and blindly backed the Iraqi regime. This attitude caused Gulf countries to halt financial support to Yemen and return millions of Yemeni expatriates, thus depriving Yemeni budget from hundreds of millions.
Yemeni economy was very dependent on Gulf donations, particularly Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The collective return of Yemeni expatriates put added pressure on the ailing economy.
There had been an increased demand for infrastructure and primary services and Yemeni economy was unable to provide them. Further, the underdeveloped economy was unable to contain those millions of people and there were increased problems socially and economically. Most of the public institutions and governmental sectors have proved to be a great failure, yet the privatization policy adopted to tackle this problem proved not to be a solution.
Yemen found itself in a civil war that claimed the lives of thousands of people, and more injured. The material losses were great with estimates in the billions of US dollars. These are only the economic affects – it also left a mark on with social relations, environment pollution and psychologically.
Though Yemen was able to defend its unity at a very high cost, officials paid no attention and kept on looting and exploiting public money, turning it into personal property.
The country under the recommendations of the World Bank and the International Monetary Bank (IMB) adopted a political and economic reform program; however it yielded no significant success due to rampant corruption.
Prices rose to unimaginable rates and people's lives deteriorated. This change eliminated Yemeni middle class and we were left with two classes – upper class or working/lower class. The former enjoying absolute richness, while the latter suffered in utter poverty, with almost nothing to eat.
Though officials chant of investment and its benefits, the reality reflects something different. Yemeni investment environment is lacking due to poor infrastructure and the absence of law enforcement. Further, influential people and government officials try also to impose partnerships in each and every project.
Private sector started to suffer great decline as it was rivaled by the official businessmen. These officials exploit posts and forget about their own official primary responsibilities. Sometimes, they have problems with old businessmen and agency owners and they ask them for a partnership; otherwise they will try to grasp those agencies with the money they have.
Thus, the private sector suffers a lot and it is not able to sustain further employment. Not only this, but sidelining this sector has deprived the public treasury from billions of Yemeni Rails that were collected from taxes and customs.
Our problem lay in the lack of strategic planning, inability to list priorities and the spread of corruption.
Moneer Al-Omari is a Yemeni writer. He is currently pursuing his Master Degree in Linguistics.
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[archive-e:979-v:14-y:2006-d:2006-08-07-p:opinion]
