Yemeni MPs stress fighting corruption as imperative [Archives:2006/925/Business & Economy]

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March 2 2006

By: Mahyoub Al-Kamali
Yemeni parliamentarians and international experts called for joining government and citizen efforts to end the corruption phenomenon from which the whole world, including Yemen, is suffering. Yemeni parliamentarians and politicians emphasized the necessity of combating financial and administrative corruption widely disseminated inside state institutions, stressing that serious steps must be taken to stop corruption's spread.

In addressing a Feb. 23 workshop organized by the American National Democratic Institute (NDI), Dr. Abdulmalik Al-Mutawakil, Assistant Secretary-General of the People's Forces Union Party, demanded establishing an independent body entrusted to fight corruption, indicating that combating corruption cannot be done without comprehensive political reform, a freely elected Parliament and a just and independent judiciary.

He said the problem of developing countries like Yemen is that they rely on corruption as their structure is built upon it, which is why they dare not remove even one stone of corruption so the situation will not collapse. Such regimes resort to surrounding themselves with a group of corrupters.

Abdulwahab Al-Anisi, Assistant Secretary-General of Yemeni reform party Islah, warned against the danger of dealing with the corruption issue at the expense of democratic change in the country.

Al-Anisi said, “We fear that corruption fighting syllabuses will draw us to accuse the democracy mechanism of being the one that established fighting corruption, calling for combating it with institutional and popular methods. Institutional fighting is based on democratic action, whereas popular fighting depends on developing values among society.”

He also called for annexing the Central Apparatus for Monitoring and Audition to Parliament, pointing out that the apparatus includes efficient elements and has a role despite no response by others. “It is said that Parliament suffers from talent shortages. Annexing the apparatus would raise Parliament's efficiency.”

Yemeni economic personality and former oil minister Faisal Bi Shamlan confirmed that there is no political will to fight corruption, affirming that all, including the president, parliament and the government, talk about the country's corruption, which arouses the question: If they all talk about corruption, who will rule the country? He called on all to work together to find a political mechanism to fight corruption, pinpointing the tools of this will as being the press, Parliament and an independent Parliament.

Former MP Salem Al-Arthi warned against the danger of making corruption a legitimate entity, questioning how corruption that is promulgated and approved by Parliament can be combated. He asked, “How will we watch the supplementary appropriation that Parliament approved when 99 percent of it represents corruption? What authority will refute and oppose something legislated and approved by representatives of the people?” Al-Arthi called on all to give priority to national affiliation to partisan or regional affiliation in order to destroy corruption.

Mohammed Qaraa, Shoura (consultancy) Council member and former Shabwa governor, called for the necessity of raising corruption issues via civil society organizations and the press as the first step in corruption fighting efforts.

MP Aidaroos Al-Naqib, head of Parliament's Yemeni Socialist Party bloc, ascribed the problems of Parliament's absent monitoring role mainly to the fact that a large number of MPs do not want to realize their task toward corruption. He stressed the necessity of disconnecting the Central Apparatus for Monitoring and Audition from the government and attaching it to Parliament, affirming that corruption has spread widely and become a daily part of culture.

Shoura Council member Mohammed Al-Taib described corruption as an international phenomenon existing in various countries of the world and taking various forms and levels. He emphasized fighting corruption by means of dialogue among various political parties.

Workshop participants expressed their hope that Parliament soon will complete the law on establishing a Supreme Body to combat corruption thereby guaranteeing limiting corruption's spread among state institutions.

An international expert at the NDI parliamentary workshop confirmed that the issue of fighting corruption is considered among the world's most important matters, pointing to the many programs to combat the phenomenon in many countries, including Yemen. She considered the matter as important to Yemen's government as it is to NDI. She stressed the necessity of combining efforts to end the epidemic from which many world nations suffer.

Workshop participants also reviewed experiments of Latin American, Asian and Pacific Ocean countries, as well as Eastern European and African countries, in fighting the corruption phenomenon and convenient mechanisms to end it.
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