Armies of Liberation

In order to restructure the military, the transitional govt needs to know what exists and where; a US congressional report in 2009ish found that the Yemeni CT forces and military could not account for or locate some equipment granted as US military assistance. Furthermore, direct and brokered Yemeni arms purchases are sometimes sold in bulk to the black market, and individual soldiers (who sometimes aren’t paid for months) have been known to sell their weapons.

In reality, all ministries and government offices should be subject to an inventory (including cars). However, considering the gargantuan levels of corruption and mismanagement at all levels, a secondary audit is imperative. Asking the people responsible for the embezzlement to count the inventory is a recipe for more subterfuge.

A secondary audit of the inventory would be a good job for the revolutionaries, many of whom have accounting and computer degrees. As outsiders they would be independent, and its a good method to enfranchise them in the transition process while generating trust through transparency. International assistance by experienced accountants of the process may also increase the Yemeni auditors skill levels and employ-ability. Of course the US will be embarrassed by how much of its intended CT aid was stolen, diverted and/or resold, but sunlight is good for everybody.

Its very important however to standardized the inventory process regionally and from ministry to ministry–from the beginning. Starting with compatible processes, methods, computer systems and software is essential. For example, Yemen’s years long difficulty in generating stats and paperwork on the Somali refugees arises in large part from technical obstacles generated by using different accounting methods, incompatible databases and different computer systems, both vertically and horizontally. This impending pitfall is easily overcome with a little forethought at this point.

al Sahwa, President directs to count properties of military

Alsahwah.net- Yemen President Abdu-Rabo Mansour Hadi has directed on Wednesday the Defense Ministry to form technical committees to count the properties of the army in a move that precede the reconstruction of the military and end the division.

Meanwhile, the government tasked the Oil and Mineral Minister, Hisham Sharaf, to appoint a new director-general of the Oil Petroleum Company after the resignation of the former director in response to waves of protests by the employees of the company.

According to the Yemeni News Agency, Saba, military commanders held on Wednesday a meeting presided by the Defense Minister Ahmed Nasser Ahmed. The meeting discussed the counting of the military’s properties and how to halt the squandering of the public resources.

Also see “Fixing Broken Windows”: Security Sector Reform in Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen Carnegie 2009

Where is the actual budget break down posted? These numbers are meaningless. The new law of the land in Yemen (the GCC document) guarantees fiscal transparency, and anti-corruption measures are one important demand of the people. Normally there is an end of the year supplemental that increases spending by about 25%.

Bloomberg: Yemen’s government plans to spend 2,111 billion rials ($9.8 billion) this year, according to draft budget plans reported by state-run news agency Saba. The draft expenditure, which requires the approval of parliament in Sana’a, represents a 17 percent increase over the 2011 budget that was approved Dec. 5, 2010. Yemen has been using last year’s budget for the first quarter of this year as unrest forced President Ali Abdullah Saleh from office last month and repeated clashes undermined business activity.

Government recognizes the state budget for fiscal year 2012 by 2 trillion and 672 billion and 740 million rials
[06 / March / 2012]

Sana’a (Saba) -

Council of Ministers approved in its weekly meeting today, chaired by Council President Brother Mohammed Salem Basendwah the draft state budget for fiscal year 2012, and projects of independent and attached budgets and special funds budgets and the economic sector and laws linked to .. And the allocation to the House of Representatives to complete the necessary constitutional procedures.

The Council instructed the Minister of Legal Affairs and Minister of State for the House of Representatives and the Shura Council in coordination with the Minister of Finance to follow up those actions.

The estimated resources of the state budget at both central and local levels for the current year 2012, the amount of two trillion and 111 billion and 129 000 453 thousand, from various sources or resource for linking resources to the last year of $ trillion and 519 billion and 589 thousand, and an increase of 9.38 percent.

The estimated use for 2012, the amount of two trillion and 672 billion and 740 000 773 thousand, distributed at the gates of various budget, compared to connect to the year 2011 of $ trillion and 835 billion and 956 million riyals, an increase of 6.45 percent. (Read on …)

In the first half of the story, South Korea was paying well under fair market price since 2005 despite opposition and activists strenuous objections.

Yemen LNG and Total Gas LIFT gas shipments redirected to Korea
[18 / February / 2012] Saba

Agreed Yemen LNG, Total Gas & Power to increase the number of shipments transferred by 20 shipments per year to Korea during the years 2012.2013 and 2014 m due to the continued low gas prices in the U.S. market.

Under the new agreement which was signed in Paris on the fourteenth of February, the ongoing presence of the Minister of Oil and Minerals Engineer Hisham Sharaf Abdullah, will be selling LNG to Kogas, according to the current price of the market. (Read on …)

CH: Anti-government protests in Yemen are complicating Nexen’s efforts to renew its licence for the country’s Masila oilfield.

Nexen may lose its licence for Yemen’s Masila oilfield to a local operator, officials in Yemen said, as the Canadian company’s efforts to renew the deal are hindered by political turmoil and the government’s urgent need for cash. (Read on …)

WB Suspends $542 Million to Instable Yemen Yemen Post:

The World Bank suspended hundreds of millions of USD in aid to Yemen as from July 28 due to the political and security situation as the dueling protests and associated severe crises continue across the republic.

Independent sources cited a WB statement as saying that the decision came in harmony with the Bank’s rules that call for such a procedure in complicated circumstances to avoid negative impacts on its programme course in any country.

The Bank is sponsoring 21 projects in Yemen with $882 million, $542 million out of which has not been released yet, the source reported, citing the statement as saying that the Bank will be ready to resume its activities normally in the country when the situation returns normal.

There are many ways to skin a cat apparently. In 2010, South Africa sold about R 8.3 million or over 1 million dollars in weapons to Yemen. However no Ratel armored vehicles were sold. Ratel vehicles shown in Yemen in pictures by Reuters show the pro-change or defected military in possession of them currently. The armored carriers were likely shipped to Yemen in violation of their end use certificates. They appear to be converted versions of the South African Ratel carrier produced in Jordan by the Paramount Group, in co-operation with the King Abdullah Design and Development Bureau (KADDB). Additionally, Saleh opened his own bullet and tank factories in the last few years.

CAPE TOWN — South African- manufactured Ratel armoured infantry carriers have been photographed in strife-torn Yemen, leading the Democratic Alliance (DA) to call for an investigation by the National Conventional Arms Control Committee (NCACC).

The Ratels were apparently being operated in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, by soldiers who had defected to protesters demanding the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s rule.

The presence of the vehicles either means SA authorised their export or that another country sold Ratels to Yemen, which would constitution a violation of the end- user certificate. (Read on …)

Safer was established as a state corporation after the Yemeni government threw out Hunt Oil. Safer has been a center of mass corruption since then. By dissolving Safer and establishing a new National Petroleum Company, the state is destroying the records proving corruption, embezzlement and smuggling. Next it will be the Fisheries and the Military Economic Corp. (which is known as the Economic Corp now). This can’t go unchallenged. No documents means no trial.

SABA

aretaker Govt transmits bill of National Petroleum Co. to Parliament
[29 / March 2011]

SANA’A, March 29 (Saba) – The cabinet of the caretaker government referred on Tuesday a bill of the National Petroleum Company to Parliament for discussion and completion of constitutional procedures for the issuance of the law.

The bill, reviewed by a ministerial committee, consists of 32 articles divided into six chapters, including naming, definitions, the establishment of the National Petroleum Company and determining its functions, powers, capital, resources and board of directors, the advantages and exemptions and the final provisions.

The bill stipulated the creation of a national petroleum company to replace the current SAFER E & P Operations Company. The new company has a legal personality with financial and administrative independence and is subjected to the supervision and control of Minister of Oil and Minerals.

Yemen Post

Foreign Minister Abu Bakr Al-Qirbi has urged donors to pump $ 6 billion in aid to Yemen over the next five years to help it meet the demands of the anti-government protesters and sit-inners. (Read on …)

Al Shameri is a very interesting guy, close to Ali Mohsen al Ahmar, with a lot of connections to disparate groups. Supposedly al Shamari was carrying a half million dollars to dole it out to Yemeni students in Egypt but that’s unbelievable.

New Age: Yemen’s ambassador to Egypt was robbed by gunmen, who stole about 594,000 dollars in cash, security sources told the German Press Agency dpa on Wednesday. (Read on …)

The desperate scrambling of a desperate man. Tactics that worked before won’t again:

Saleh directs Govt to expand social security network [31/1/2011

SANA’A, Jan.31(Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh directed the government on Monday to expand the network of social security by adopting 0.5 million cases of families in need in light of the results of the field survey carried out by the concerned body. (Read on …)

Its like watching a slow motion car crash and everyone is shouting, turn the wheel.

Yemen’s Economy to Collapse within Two Years – Gulf Official Warns
Yemen Post Staff

Yemen’s economy is expected to collapse within two years in case the inflation and job rates continue to increase amid a sharp decline in oil production whose revenues bring in about two thirds of the country’s income, a Gulf official has warned.

Abdul Aziz al Owaishiq, Director of the Economic Integration Department at the Gulf Cooperation Council, was quoted by Al-Hayat Newspaper as saying in a lecture in Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday that the GCC and donor annual aid to Yemen, about $ 1.2 billion, is now frozen because of the ‘administrative inefficiency and weaknesses’. (Read on …)

In plea documents, LatiNode admitted that from about March 2004 through June 2007, it paid $1.1 million to third parties, knowing that some or all of those funds would be passed on as bribes to officials of Hondutel. In addition, from about July 2005 to April 2006, the court records show LatiNode paid $1.2 million to a third-party consultant, knowing some or all of the money would be passed on to Yemeni officials in exchange for favorable interconnection rates in Yemen: Miami Herald

There’s even people in jail. Bypassing the bid process is not hard when you can get people locked up. When al Hubaishi, the editor of 14 October arrives at work, he has drummers precede him in a procession as if he’s a minor king, which he is, and Hubashi junior is a real…

Packaging Essentials: Goss Community SSC press launches color expansion in Yemen
Submitted by Admin on December 21, 2010 – 07:54No Comment

* 14th October Foundation government printing operation enhances color capabilities
* Opportunity to increase circulation of leading daily titles

The inauguration of a new Goss Community SSC press at the 14th October Foundation for Journalism, Printing and Publishing in Aden City, Yemen, was officiated on November 22nd 2010 by the Yemeni vice president, Abdu Rabbu Mansoor Hadi. In a ceremony broadcast via national media channels and reported in the state press, Hadi announced a new benchmark for color and automation in Yemen. (Read on …)

In 2005 it was about a third of all spending was allocated to the military, its a massive swamp of corruption.

Yemen Observer: A recent official report revealed that about 40 percent of the Yemeni budget is spent on fighting terrorism. The terrorist operations have also caused losses in the tourism sector that amounted to one billion dollars, while these operations have negatively impacted development, poverty, and unemployment alleviation due to the allocation of large amounts to of fund to fight terrorism from an already meager budget. (Read on …)

Good! 4.5 billion YR is about 220 million dollars US. Another area of enormous expense with disproportionately small return is the foreign embassies, which are used as a mechanism for getting outspoken politicians out of the country. For example the actual winner of the al Jawf governor’s election and the first member of Parliament to resign in protest of corrupt practices were both shipped abroad in diplomatic positions. In 2005, Yemen made repeated announcements that it would be closing unnecessary foreign embassies and reducing staff at others in an effort to cut costs. In the end, after months of hullabaloo, one Yemeni embassy was closed, Oct.11, 2005, Romania.

Academic scholarships abroad are important for Yemen’s future but are largely an entitlement to the sons and daughters of influential persons, bypassing much more qualified applicants. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands are on the military payroll but perform no military service, including some al Qaeda. Military commissions are often awarded by tribal sheiks as patronage and the sweeping exclusion of applicants by region (especially the south) during recruitment has triggered riots. The state also has trouble collecting what is due, whether taxes or the millions are owed in electricity bills by high profile persons. There’s really a lot that can be done to rationalize the Yemeni governmental budget, but it remains to be seen if its Romania all over again.

SANA’A, Dec. 3,2010 – SABA: President Ali Abdullah Saleh ordered last Thursday to reduce the proportion of fuel spending given to senior officials estimated at YR 4.5 billion annually. The order comes within the austerity plans, economic and financial reforms and plans to reduce the public budget deficit.

Other measures Saleh has urged included rationalizing the public spending, limiting funds given for medical treatments outside the country, parties, hospitality, advertisement and other unnecessary activities.

The decision could save the budget about YR 10 billion a year.

General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar: the Avis of Yemen

YP: BY DIONNE SEARCEY- Wall Street Journal (For the Yemen Post)
New documents have emerged relating to possible bribery in Yemen by global oil-services giant Schlumberger.
Internal company documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show that Schlumberger employees raised concerns in 2008 about payments for cars the company rented from Yemeni government officials at above-market rates—including $6,000 a month for a Toyota Camry and two Toyota Corollas. Employees also cited a contract with customs broker Dhakwan Management Petroleum Co., whose chairman had ties to Yemen’s president. (Read on …)

Update: YOL: Dec 13,2010

Parliament approved on Monday a bill on opening an additional appropriation of over YR 287.3 billion in the State’s general budget for the fiscal year 2010. The parliament also approved to direct a number of recommendations to the government in this regard, after the discussion of the Financial Affairs Committee’s report on this subject.

In this regard, the parliament emphasized the commitment of Finance Minister to these recommendations, which asserts that the government must comply with the provisions of the Article No. (89) of the Constitution and must not expend outside the State budget framework, only after the parliament’s approval.

The parliament urged the government to perform its functions so as to stop the phenomenon of internal and external smuggling of oil derivatives.

The recommendations stressed the need to hold government agencies accountable for the negligence in the use of foreign aid provided to them, which led to loading the State financial burdens, and to oblige those agencies to not do that again.

The parliament instructed the Finance Committee to study the causes of the escalating rise in the quantities and value of oil derivatives consumed locally for all sectors.

Moreover, the parliament obliged the government, when discussing the draft budget for 2011, to add allocations of stalled road and electricity projects in light of what has been agreed by the Committee with the government side. Saba

Original: I was waiting for it, because it happens every year. The Yemeni government’s end of year emergency supplemental this year totals 287 billion Yemen riyals, about one billion dollars US, a minor miscalculation. And although Jalal Yaqoub, deputy finance minister, spent yesterday at the Chatham House event insisting, “Every aspect of government expenditure is transparent and available on our website …. how could we do otherwise …. our IMF friends are watching us closely and are very pleased,” its a total crock. While the IMF may be pleased, Yemen has done little to implement meaningful structural reforms. The Yemeni state budget is looted on a grand scale, as are the oil resources and donor aid. The IMF’s discussion of Yemen’s predicted 8% growth in GDP is equally disheartening, especially if its based on projected revenue from the overtly corrupt LNG deal. Who are we trying to kid here, and why? Its blatant malfeasance.

Government recognizes the open adoption of an additional budget of 2010 of $ 287.3 billion riyals
[02/نوفمبر/2010] [02 / November / 2010]
صنعاء ـ سبأنت : Sana Saba: Government approved on Tuesday to open an additional appropriation of the State budget for fiscal year 2010 a total amount of 287 billion and 385 million riyals, in the light of its discussion of the memorandum of the Minister of Finance for the increase in the actual implementation to support oil derivatives, and local benefits. And directed to refer the project to the House of Representatives to complete the constitutional procedures regarding that matter.

But then the vote was delayed. Its almost time to declare the emergency supplemental to the 2010 budget.

SFD’s 2011 budget of over YR 30 bln approved
[24/October/2010] SANA’A,Oct.24(Saba) -Board of directors of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) approved on Sunday the draft budget of the Fund for the fiscal year 2011 at a total sum of YR 30.9 billion, by an increase of 17.9 percent.

It is expected that the budget will cover 1,274 projects nationwide, distributed between the sectors of education, water and environment, training and institutional support, agriculture, health, and roads.

In addition, the budget will also cover projects within the integrated intervention program, projects for people with special needs, and projects for addressing the effects of rising food prices, as well as the cultural heritage projects.

They are demanding that new workers hired by Safer are afforded the same treatment as HUNT’s former workers. Their claims and the right to strike are supported by law, however they were arrested.

Yemen Observer: 47 workers at the Safer refinery in Marib province were arrested last Tuesday and are being held at al-Qatta’a prison after demanding better working conditions, better hours, and higher pay. The workers of Marib refinery launched a strike on October 10 to demand financial equity between new plant workers and the former workers of the Hunt Oil Company. (Read on …)

The economic crisis hits across the board.

al Masdar: As explained Hattar in response to a question by Deputy Abdul Malik Algosos on the reduction of bonuses allocated to the preachers from 10 thousand to 5 thousand riyals per month, he explained that the global financial crisis prevented the government’s ability to adopt the ten thousand riyals 6000 preacher in the various governorates of the republic, where distributed the same amount, which was based in the year 2008 of $ 720 million riyals by 5 thousand riyals for each speaker.
وتمنى الهتار على مجلس النواب الوقوف مع وزارته في الحصول الاعتمادات المطلوبة لصرف إعاشة 27 ألف جامع. Hattar and wished the House to stand with his ministry to get the appropriations required for the disbursement of subsistence 27 thousand inclusive.
من جانبه اعتبر النائب القصوص في تعقيبه على وزير الأوقاف أنه من المعيب استقطاع إعاشة خطباء المساجد وهي مسماة بإعاشة رئيس الجمهورية والتي جاءت أثناء الانتخابات الرئاسية 2006م ، مشيرا إلى أن خطباء في المحافظات الجنوبية ليس لهم سببا للعيش سوى هذه المخصصات. For his part, MP Algosos in commenting on the Minister of Awqaf and it is shameful deducting subsistence preachers Biashp is named President of the Republic, which came during the presidential election in 2006, pointing out that the preachers in the southern provinces have no reason to live apart from these provisions.