Will Constitutional Amendments Be Approved? [Archives:2000/43/Focus]

Mohammed Hatem Al-Qadhi
Managing Editor,
Yemen Times
The speaker of Parliament Sheikh Abdullah Bin Hussain al-Ahmar Tuesday inaugurated two-day parliamentary deliberations on the proposed constitutional amendments. A good number of representatives of political parties, unions, syndicates, and people interested in this issue took part in those discussions.
In his opening address the parliament Speaker said the meeting was an aspect of democracy the people had been struggling hard to achieve. As the constitution is a pivotal social contract, all should participate in formulating it and as the government is very much determined to make democracy take roots, this meeting was invited. the Speaker added.
He also pointed out that after the Parliament received a memo from President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 19.8.2000 calling for amending 14 articles, the Parliament called for comments on those amendments, adding that the Parliament had received a lot of comments through the special Constitutional Amendments Committee. This meeting had the objective of achieving stable constitutional articles, he said adding that the President had called on political parities a day after sending his proposals to the Parliament to have wide discussions of his proposals. Sheikh al-Ahmar asserted that that was a good step by the President to widen the participation base.
For the last 55 days, a strong controversy was taking place in the social as well political arena over these amendments; opposition parties stood against them while the government supported them. Majority of supporters are from the ruling party who look at them as a healthy and promising phenomenon that has the objective of strengthening the democratic orientation and enhancing the social participation base. However, the second party, including opposition parties and independent MPs, are of the opinion that the proposed amendments targeted at the core of the constitution which ensures many of peoples rights. They view that this is a hazardous phenomenon in the history of the parliament that aimed at dismantling the whole constitution in as much as these amendments completely contradict other articles of the constitution and the effective laws. Therefore, it will lead to a new constitution to be drawn up. Many consider the Presidents memo to be in total contradiction with the articles to be amended. An illustration in point is when some expressed their fear about amending article No (10) of the constitution which stipulates that the government has to protect trade freedom, local as well as foreign investment and to encourage competition. They believe that amending that article will only serve interests of the WB, IMF and WTO and it aims at destroying small enterprises which can never stand competition in an open free market policy.
Others take the view that in course of time many rights are guaranteed to the people in their constitutions while our case seems to be a different matter, for the constitution amendments seem to gradually strip the people of their rights.
Another section assumed that it was important to add a new article pertaining to the issue of cleanliness as it posed an increased hazard to environment. However, others felt that cleanliness did not deserve to have priority over other issues such as health, education.. etc, in order to be fixed as an article in the constitution.
Others favored the view of not to be cautious vis-a-vis those amendment, presuming that the constitution has to serve the people, they were opposed to any attempt of manipulating the constitution. They added that there are some countries without constitutions, however, their governments respect the rights of their people. They also presume that it is difficult for Yemen to stand still in a dramatic changing world in the face of globalization, international trade and cultural invasion unless we apply science.
Others focused their remarks on the issue of extending the Parliamentary tenure to six years, depriving the people of the right to vote on any constitutional amendments and giving legislative authorities to the appointed Shoura Council. They see that there is no single warrant to extend the Parliament term as other countries are tending to shorten the term to two years.
Majority are opposed to the idea of incorporating the Shoura council with the Parliament on the issue of voting on decisions and endorsing agreements, considering this as a violation of the MPs rights since MPs are elected by the people, this tantamount to a violation of the peoples rights.
Others see that the point is not a matter of constitutional amendments. Rather it is a matter of responsibility and commitment to implementing constitutional articles and a matter of moral obligation of rulers for the benefit of the people. They demonstrate that democracy is futile in a society suffering from poverty, illiteracy and spread of diseases. They say that it is better for Yemenis to spend these millions, allotted to elections process, on development which is a top priority for the time being.
After these discussions are over, they will be presented to the Parliament for ratification and then they will be put for public referendum. It is believed that would be the last time for the Yemeni people to practice their right in referendum. The question now is Will constitutional amendments be approved? We shall wait and see!

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