Silver LiningPGC Conference: Testing Regime’s Credibility to Reform [Archives:2005/904/Opinion]

By: Mohammed Hatem al-Qadhi
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It is interesting to see political parties running their conferences, a good signal of democracy and public participation. Last week, it was the turn of the General Peoples' Congress (GPC). People are expecting serious decisions concerning many issues including the democratic transformation Yemen has been experiencing since the re-unification in 1990. Since then, we have walked some good steps towards democratization which the international community praised. This praise was due to the fact we have been moving ahead compared to the neighboring countries. The political regime in Yemen was using this applause not to improve but to show off before the others. These steps should have been accompanied with serious steps to crack down corruption, enforcing the rule of law and tackling many other loopholes in economy. Unfortunately, this has not taken place. The economy is facing hard times; corruption has expanded and become a pervasive problem, inviting international community concerns. With the war on terror, security has prioritized all other issues and helped boosting the power of the regime rather than helped in establishing a real state of rule and order.

With these developments, the regime has felt that the security issue, mainly for the US, is a primary job in Yemen and that the rest of the world can close their eyes to abuses of human rights, press freedom etc. This has really raised the concerns of politicians and journalists who have felt they might be the escape goat of the international game of interests and priorities ruled out by politics and interests rather than ethical commitments. But, it seems that the international community interest in the democratic drive is still there, despite the variations of the levels of interests.

I agree with Nabeel Khoury that the international community is impatiently waiting for courageous decisions from the 7th conference of the ruling party. Yes, there must serious actions taken to address corruption and other forms of lawlessness and chaos. President Saleh committed his party to continue reform process and crackdown on corruption and terror. The problem is that when officials criticize corruption or other ordeals, these problems exacerbate and become rather pervasive.

Now, there is no time to play around and try to mislead the people. There is no time for nice speeches which never turn into practice. The situation is very much worsening and actions should be taken to stop the collapse. Change is becoming indispensable and a must that can not avoided or postponed. The ruling party acknowledges the urgency to reform and change. The opposition presented in their initiative a concrete account of the problems and what should be done. This can bring them together to think of how to come out of the impasse we are approaching.

However, as Saleh has rejected the opposition initiative and said it does not matter to his party or political leadership. He even said they should address the citizens and gain their support. This is the game of politics. But, there should be a fair play in the competition between the two sides. We have seen that there has been live coverage for the GPC conference for hours in the state-run media while the opposition parties get just some minutes in the news for their general conferences. That is to say, equal opportunities should be given to all the political parties to play fairly and competitively because with this imbalance real democratic building and progress can not take place. The culture of power which accepts democracy in form and in legislation and rejects it in practice should be ended.

By and large, the ruling party's conference can and must be an opportunity to start a real reform not only in terms of economy and fight on corruption but also in all other political aspects. The decisions taken by the conference are a real test to the regime's credibility and willingness to change.
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