Head of Foreign Affairs Circle at the ruling General People Congress (GPC) Mohammed Al-Qubati revealed the government has no plans to increase the prices of oil derivatives on what it known among locals to be a new Jur'ah (dose).
In an interview aired by Al-Saeeda Satellite Channel, Al-Qubati stated that Yemen spends about $4 billion in supporting oil derivatives, stressing this huge sum does overburden the country's state budget.
He noted that turning to local governance will help speed up the democratic transformation in the country and declared that the recent conferences held nationwide were meant for discussing the strategy of local councils after being developed for the last two years.
Further, Al-Qubati mentioned that there were also plans for developing and upgrading the local councils experience and these plans were raised by local councils in some governorates.
He also called on opposing Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) to present their proposals on local governance – which he considers to be the key issue facing Yemen during the last two decades – especially when centralized ruling is blamed for the rampage of corruption.
Accusing different parties within the political arena of Yemen of standing against the decentralized ruling, Al-Qubati maintained that there are now 132 laws that go against the law of local governance, after they were just 37 in 2000.
Problems in South Yemen
Al-Qubati, a former Yemeni ambassador to Lebanon, hinted most problems in South Yemen date back to the time of the Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP) or Yemen's reunification, adding the problem existed because the Socialist Party was not representing all South Yemen's people and this has made some feel injustice for not receiving any official posts.
He further blamed the sharing and dividing policies of post-unity era when it involved, in the very beginning, GPC and YSP. Following the civil war in 1994, the coalition and sharing was shifted to GPC and Islamist Islah Party. Islah cadre was to replace those of YSP and this caused people in South Yemen to feel injustice.
When asked about the best solution, Al-Qubati made clear that local governance with full authorities could be the best solution at the moment.
Stressing it is the duty of political parties to get the country out, Qubati warned the current economic problems and the global crisis pose formidable challenges and dangers for Yemen and its people, particularly when population increases at rates much higher than what the Yemeni economy could afford.