Corruption
Yemen infested with corruption, says UNDP
By Observer Staff
Aug 23, 2005 - Vol. VIII Issue 33
SANA’A - A United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report has said that Yemen is in the throes of major administrative lapses and the country is “infested with corruption” which has engulfed all basic employment, including its monitoring and control bodies, as well as the judicial service, Gulf News reports.
The report said trust in the Yemeni judiciary system had fallen to a low ebb due to the state of the judiciary and issues related to corruption. The situation was incompatible with the government’s future approach of ensuring equality before the law.
The 2005 report, which is based on good governance, launched by the Arab Regional Office of the UNDP, pointed out that the Yemeni judiciary was facing a number of problems and obstacles. Notable among them, the report said, was the unsuitability of existing laws and legislations. It said there is a lack of coordination between the government and law implementation, adding that the judiciary’s authority and entity were also ineffective. The report described the Yemeni judiciary as fragile and attributed the reason behind this fragility to various factors including lack of qualification and training for some of the judges, bad monitoring system on the courts and the general prosecution and lack of enough protection for judges.
It also said the government lacks effective system of exposing and checking corruption, adding that Yemen scored 19 on the Personal Accountability Index, whereas an average score by countries from the Middle East and North Africa stood at 32, while the average score of low-income countries stood at 38.
On the Quality Administration Index (IQA), Yemen scored 33.5 points compared to 46 points for countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 30 points for low-income countries. Under the Governance Quality Index (IGQ), Yemen scored 22.5 points against 37 points for countries in the Middle East and North Africa and 28 points for low-income countries.
The report said government units lack review and internal control methods and this “encourages corruption, lack of accountability and conflict of interest.”
It said Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries with its per capita income in 2003 pegged at $564.89, adding that the country’s education and health system is very poor, while population growth continues to rise at a rate of 3.03 per cent between 2001 and 2003, up from 2.84 per cent in 2000.
http://www.yobserver.com/cgi-bin/yobserver/exec/view.cgi/1/7887
