Ibb governorate ... elegant corruption ... where do the revenues of 20 districts go?
English - Wednesday 07 October 2020 الساعة 05:05 pm
Ibb, NewsYemen, Special Report:
During the six years of the war that the Houthi militia waged on most of the governorates of the republic, a number of facts have been revealed and many windows of corruption and looting have been legalized.
A war that made the Houthi movement stand on solid ground, as it managed through what it called (the Qur’anic march); to get more gains, less losses, and the easiest way.
Ibb governorate and its 20 districts took a sufficient share of this war after the Houthi militia overran it in October 2014.
Ibb has become completely subject to the militia’s decision to cover some of the leaders and others affiliated with the General People's Congress, with the intensification of strengthening the city with new arrivals.
Abu Ali Al-Hakim conqueror
One of the sources, a prominent leader in the Congress Party, which was headed by the late President Ali Abdullah Saleh, stated that he was hosted by the current governor of the governorate, Abdulwahid Salah, in 2015, the place was full of people and suddenly (Abu Ali al-Hakim) entered.
Everyone rose to receive him as if he were an inspiring popular leader, and at that time I realized that we are heading towards an abyss. “The source's story ended.”
People were unaware that he had only come to take authorization and legitimacy to start collecting tax, zakat, customs and duties resources and fighters with a few words that he says in any tribal gathering.
The witness from that story is generally clear. What was perhaps not clear at the time, due to many of the bases and leaderships, is that the governorate has inaugurated a new era of loss like the rest of the provinces .. an era led by groups that are originally a mixture of leaders that came from the outskirts of the world (Saada) and its surroundings, and auxiliary tools that did not bother to ask themselves where will it go?
In conjunction with the rise of the movement and at a time when God did not need supporters, they insisted only that they be “supporters of God (Ansar Allah)” so Abu Ali al-Hakim seemed to receive that warm welcome.
And here begins the urgent questions, why are we so empty and in front of ourselves and our society as leaders, elites, media professionals and partisans.
Sweep entrances
Ibb Governorate, which is located 193 km south of the capital, Sana'a, and borders with 5 other governorates, is one of the most important centers in support of the militia.
In spite of its population, which is approximately 11% of the population of the republic and the number of 20 districts, those who stand with the militia do not exceed 3%. Most of them were pushed by negotiations and conflicts led by political parties "left and right" before the invasion of Sana'a to this square.
The opposition parties pushed from the six wars until the year 2009 to 2011 to withdraw the rug of political "centralism" from most of the governorates.
This was from Sana'a and Aden, then through Taiz and Ibb, so that (Saada) would be granted all the privileges and weight, becoming the main center in the Milky Way, until we reached the National Dialogue Conference.
Corruption points and circles
Around the year 2019, the deputy governor of Ibb governorate, Sheikh Abdulhamid al-Shahri, admitted that the “improvement point” in the (Yarim) district alone generated millions of riyals.
He stated, in a statement, who is one of the Houthi leaders, that the point's revenues increased after changing the previous recipients from the amount of 2,500,000 per month and for a period of 5 years to an amount of 40,000,000 million in less than a month.
The city suffers from dilapidated infrastructure, destroyed streets, problems with sanitation services and slums.
The sources indicate that the Central Bank does not receive any of those sums.
Measure on that, the rest of the points, the city of Ibb, the northern side.
Sources mention that there is a point in the “Al-Sahool” area that belongs to the General Organization for Slaughterhouses and Meat (Taiz branch), in which fees are taken in exchange for bonds written on it a “veterinary statement”.
In addition, there are points called "the Public Transport Authority", and others under the name "Farazat" of transport unions, and reports indicate that these points generate millions of riyals.
The most important question here. Who is watching these points? How legal is it? Is there a bond control? And how do you get used to a province already suffering from all the ravages of poverty and devastation?
So we are facing an army of the main supervisors and controlling leaders, from the Shami house to the al-Mutawakel house, and assistants who have recently been in contact to facilitate the task so that the collection process is not arduous.
This is part of the plunder of citizens in the name of the state.
Sources confirm that there are other points at the entrances to secondary cities, in which fees are collected in the name of the “local council” in the district, and these are also other than the well-known “improvement points”.
Not to mention the suffering of judges and prosecutors and their inability to buy medicines to cope with some of the diseases they suffer from, while reports indicate that the revenues of the Criminal Court are in the millions.
A citizen says about the reality of what is happening, that this is a small part that takes place away from the regulatory and authorized agencies that are no longer mentioned, and their role has become limited to legitimizing corruption, such as the "Finance Office", as well as the "Central Organization for Control and Accounting" in the governorate.
Slums of construction
Cases of random construction and attacks on existing plans and streets have increased under the control of the Houthi militia.
Reports say that there were anomalous and rare cases until they became almost daily in the years 2019 and 2020, and this came with the complicity of some employees of the Public Works Office, and as a result of the failure to refer the violators to the Public Prosecution Office and the Public Funds Court.
With the Houthi militia penetrating the governmental departments in the governorate, and changing some faces; corruption has become more elegant, but this time without a tie".
Slums continued to ravage the body and the outskirts of the city, disputes occurred between some of the corrupt, which led to the publication of a list of 19 employees in the Public Works Office, who were said to have been the cause of these violations during the past 5 years.
Nothing has changed in the matter, and there are those who stand behind selling the governorate's streets and taking the revenues that are collected from the "raising violations" as well.
So we are facing systematic chaos, through which the militia was able to obtain the largest amount of money and levies, and turn the city into a large village.
It is reported that the governorate's revenues from customs, taxes and others only for the months of January / February / March / April of this year 2020 exceeded 15 billion riyals. This is a number that exceeds the revenues of Dhamar Governorate alone by more than 80%. Nevertheless, the governorate has not yet touched a single service project that meets the needs of citizens.
