Hadi’s Honeymoon: The king is dead, long live the King
It is the tradition within the United States, where we actually have a regular transition of executive power, for the newly elected president to have a honeymoon period. Once the election is over, people stop attacking him (or someday her) based on party affiliation and hope the new president does good things for the country. The honeymoon usually lasts for a while to give the new president a chance to get used to the office, to see who he actually is as president, and until policy failures begin to really add up. Thus, as is the cultural norm for me and only polite, I support the new Yemeni President.
Now that Mr. Hadi is president of Yemen, ending the butcher Saleh’s 33 year tyranny, I wish him every success in solving all Yemen’s many issues.
The GCC document overrides the Yemeni constitution and grants Hadi unlimited powers; that is unchangeable and unchallengeable but then so are its guarantees (civil rights, transparency, womens’ participation etc) which are the law in Yemen now. If the whole GCC thing is a scam to re-empower the GPC or to subordinate the south, and it may be, there are avenues to create a democratic system. Over the last year, Yemenis have seen their own power and they still have it, especially as the new transitional government is under international scrutiny. Most of the Saleh regime remains in place, but with a meritocracy, a free press and anti-corruption measures, hopefully they won’t be for long.
Some things that can done in Yemen to bring about positive political developments are to collaborate for unlimited media freedom, organize new political parties and require the fiscal transparency that is guaranteed in the GCC plan. Yemen is literally starving, and the feeding the children, by direct aid and by jump-starting the economy, is the top priority.
It is what it is.
Idiotic, nasty, condescending statements by the US ambassador are of course another story. His honeymoon is long over.
