Participants in NDI conference call for political dialogue and independence of judicial authority

Good governance key factor for development, academics

Participants in the conference on “Political Systems under Democracies” organized by The National Democratic Institute (NDI) in Yemen agreed that the absence of organizations is one of the foremost hindrances to the development of the country and that having the power in the hands of a single group is not helping to advance the country.

The two-day conference held on 30-31 January, 2008 at the Movenpick Hotel in Sana’a brought together academics, civil society organizations, political officials and international participants to discuss different aspects of the presidential and parliamentary systems of governance.

In his concluding remarks, Peter Dimitroff, NDI Resident Country Director, stressed the importance of resuming a constructive political dialogue.  He stated, “This conference  represents the first time in a long time that the major parties of Yemen have gotten together with other stakeholder groups to discuss such important topics, and I hope this sets the stage for further discussions to come.”

Abdullah Ghanim, head of GPC’s legal department, presented the approach of the GPC towards the future political system of Yemen. Ghanim said that the priority issues for the GPC were the establishment of a system of local governance with wide authority at the lowest possible levels, as well as the establishment of a bi-cameral legislature at the national level. Strengthened local governance would ensure that community needs are most effectively addressed, while an elected Shura Council at the national level would ensure the laws passed by the Parliament reflected the country as a whole. While the general public’s attitudes in Yemen are more suited to a presidential system, Ghanim stressed that the guiding principles for any political changes would be an enhancement of democracy, not a retreat from Yemen’s achievements in this area. 

Ali Sarari, head of the Yemeni Socialist Party’s media department, noted that the Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) had been discussing potential changes to the political system since 2005, urging a move towards a true parliamentary system. He questioned the rationale for the present changes announced by the President and stated that a higher priority was an enhancement of the rule of law in Yemen and a strengthening of the independence of the judiciary. He concluded that a parliamentary system would allow for the expansion of the political participation of a wide variety of groups in Yemen, a development which would allow for greater oversight to the government’s activities.

Abdul-Rahman ba-Fadhel, MP and head of the socialist bloc in the parliament, said that what Dr.Wisam Sa’adeh of Saint Joseph’s University, Beirut explained during his comprehensive overview of presidential and parliamentary systems cannot be applied in Yemen, adding that he supports the parliamentary system and rejects the idea of a mixture of equal authority for the two systems. 

Mohammed al-Roba’ai, secretary-general of the Popular Union Forces, called on people to take into consideration the nature of Yemeni society and wished for a way out of the dilemma in which Yemen now finds itself.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s constitutional and law amendments and the movement towards a presidential system drew academics, civil society organization, political officials and international participants into lively discussions during the two days of the conference.

Several papers were presented during the conference, also provoking much debate and discussion.

In the first paper, Abdul-Bari Taher, former Head of Yemeni Journalists Syndicate, talked about the impacts of the political system on the media and identified three hindrances that affect the media and its performance. The first one and largest is the power that the tribes have in Yemen which makes them stronger than the state in so many instances. “Traditions and social and tribal norms and conventions are stronger and more powerful than the constitution and the law, and the state loses its rights and dominance in front of the tribes,” said Taher.  The second obstacle is the state monopoly on the most influential media and their use of it in political battles with the opposition.
 
Taher then said that the opposition and independent newspapers have limited influence because of the absence of a freedom of information law and the high rate of illiteracy that is 60 percent among men and 70 percent among women. The third hindrance is in the laws that regulate the work of media and the absence of a law that guarantees freedom of information. “There are more than 50 articles in the Press Law - first issued in 1990 - that limit the work of journalists. This is in addition to the other laws - Criminal Law, Penal Law, Documents Law - that have articles that can punish journalists with up to the death penalty,” said Taher. He then talked about the many papers that were shut down, prosecuted or threatened. To Taher all these are standing in the way of building a modern Yemen. Taher said that the existence of the information ministry blocks a free media and the situation is worsened by the inclination of the official media to accuse the opposition and criminalize freedom of speech and expression. 

The impacts of the political system on the judicial authority was then discussed by Dr. Mohammed No’aman, Assistant Professor of International and Public Law at Sana’a University, who thinks that the core nature of the political system of a country is what affects the judicial system. “There are two types of systems, dictatorial and democratic, and between these two there are systems that are either close to the former or the latter. What negatively affects the judicial system is a dictatorial system where power is centered with one person or one party,” said No’aman. He said that in a system like this where the will of the ruler - one or a group - determines the manner of rule and the three authorities - legislative, judicial and executive - are compulsively integrated. “The victim here is the judicial system that loses its independence and then integrity and becomes unable to function and perform its role of protecting the rights of society, losing its credibility and the public trust,” said No’aman. 

A democratic system - presidential or parliamentary - on the other hand, positively affect the judicial system at the top, separating the three authorities and allowing independence of the judicial authority. No’aman said that there has to be a partnership between the ruler and civil society organizations and the private sector in order that the state does not monopolize power on the way to achieving good governance.  

No’aman identifies a number of practical mechanisms and procedures needed to enhance good governance and affect the judiciary positively. Among these mechanisms is a legislative system specifying features of independence; clear separation between the three authorities; no interfering in the works of judges by the executive authority; carrying judicial sentences and without hindering them; selecting judges and prosecutions based on integrity and quality; guaranteeing judges remain in their posts as long as he/she commit themselves to the law and availing all necessary requirements needed to make justice independent.   No’aman recommends that independence of the judicial system is an essential condition for comprehensive reform and is connected to the dominance of the law and a guarantee of the rights and freedoms of the public. He also said there has to be no exploitation of power that can result in a weakening of the judicial system and make the public lose their trust on it. He calls for reform in the judicial body through revising legal texts and clearing any vagueness, stating that the law has to be respected by all. In addition, he said that qualifying personnel working in the field of justice and finally enhancing the role of civil society organizations by giving them the right to monitor and expose any violations was crucial, adding that this has to be stated clearly in legal texts. 

Dr. Mohammed al-Dhahiri, Assistant Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at Sana’a University then talked about the impacts of the political system on the tribal system, stating that the worst of the Yemeni system is their “politicizing of the tribes and tribalizing of the parties”. 

The Yemeni society is undergoing a community structural collapse, which is responsible for the emergence of the worst of the past and a backwards modernization.  This leads to a combination of the worst of the old ways and the ugliest of modern methods as realized in the emergence of modern institutions that adopt the worst  traditional tribal structures, such as the tribal revenge. This is often transformed into political and partisan revenge, practiced inside the capital and the other major cities and villages. The habit of resorting to arms also prevails, replacing tolerance and leniency.  

“There are Yemeni phenomena that need a great deal of thought in order to understand their perspectives. For instance, you can see a tribal chief who is doing a number of contradictory tasks in Yemeni political life. He could be at the same time a party leader, a tribal leader, a parliament member and a merchant.  He could be a businessman and a chief at the same time, especially within the recent governmental tendency to [clone] modern tribal chiefs in order to guarantee their loyalty,” said al-Dhahiri.  

This leads to conflicts with the original tribal leaders, weakening their authority and paving the way for fiddling around with the community structure. Another problem is the failure of the intelligentsia political community in construing incidents, which make Yemeni individuals turn socially and politically to their tribe, due to the officials’ failure in fulfilling their electoral promises and reforms. A further problem is that the elites’ initiatives regarding governance reform does not in the least interest the common people. Their real interest is in the inability of the official authorities to carry out their duties towards the community and the citizens [regardless of its being parliamentary, presidential or mixed].  

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