People Want a Better Living! [Archives:2001/18/Viewpoint]

From the survey we did over the last two weeks, published in “Yemen Times light” supplement his week, I realized that there is one basic thing the pubic wants from the new government. That is improving the living standard. When asked whether or not they were optimistic about how they would evaluate the government one year from now, most of them, particularly the poor segment, gave the same answer. They would judge the abilities of the new government based on their standard of living. If their standard is enhanced, then the government would be rated positively, otherwise not.
The Yemeni citizens of today are mainly preoccupied with earning their bread. They are struggling day and night to make ends meet. The deteriorating economic conditions of the past years has had a negative impact on their lives. Now they want to get back to the level they were at a decade or so ago. They see the government’s role is to do its best to improve the economy and the overall standard of living. They want it to combat corruption and bring the benefits of the national resources to the people instead of delivering them to a few crooks.
One of the individuals interviewed openly expressed his pessimism about the future of the country simply because he has been told the same thing over and over again and he has seen governments come and go, yet the conditions have stayed the same. He believes there is little hope in the new government because it is the system which needs to be changed. Whatever he meant does reflect some degree of desperation.
This is what the people want. They want a better living. Will the government be able to rise to the occasion and prove that it was an efficient government by 2002? Only time will tell!
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