Houthi charitable kitchens are a cover for stealing charitable donations and a means for supervisors to practice corruption
English - Sunday 24 April 2022 الساعة 08:30 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
The Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, no longer leaves any opportunity, means, or method that it can exploit to make money and steal and loot public and private funds, but uses it based on its security grip, which it invests in to blackmail and threaten any opponent of it or those who oppose its corruption policies.
One of the theft methods practiced by militias during the holy month of Ramadan is what they call charitable kitchens, which they set up at the neighborhood level in Sana’a during this holy month and under the supervision of the executive bodies of the directorates and militia supervisors.
Local sources in Sanaa told NewsYemen that the Houthi militia organized what it calls charitable kitchens at the level of the districts during the month of Ramadan, as it contacted a large number of businessmen and philanthropists, in order to obtain funding for these kitchens during the month of Ramadan, which was met with a response. From many businessmen, traders, investors and philanthropists who supported these kitchens with large donations, including in-kind (tens of millions of riyals) and some in-kind donations (food commodities and other requirements for the month of Ramadan).
The sources added, that in addition to the donations of merchants and benefactors, the so-called General Authority for Zakat, which is controlled and managed by the militias, made donations in the millions of riyals to these kitchens, in addition to the militias deducting part of the financial allocations for the directorates in favor of these kitchens, which led to the becoming of what is called Charitable kitchens are a means of collecting funds on the one hand, and on the other hand they are used as an umbrella by the leaders of the Houthi militias to practice corruption and looting, whether for money donations, or for in-kind aid.
The sources indicated that the militia supervisors appointed to supervise these kitchens practice theft of donations, as well as extortion against merchants living within the directorates in which these kitchens are spread, indicating the corruption practiced by the militia supervisors who supervise the kitchens by forcing them to allocate a share of the allocations for every sane neighborhood. The household gas that is used by the residents of the neighborhoods for these kitchens is free of charge, as the El-Aqal is obliged to exchange the value of the gas cylinders they deliver to the charitable kitchen, which were originally deducted from the residents’ share.
According to the sources, the supervisors of the militias obliged the head of the neighborhoods to allocate cards to distribute them to the invitees to attend the breakfast meals prepared by the so-called Houthi charitable kitchens. It was set up in order to serve them and provide them with breakfast during this blessed month, especially in light of the economic conditions and the state of famine that is spreading in Sana’a and the rest of the militia-controlled areas as a result of the latter’s policies.
