Intransigence and neglect.. The Houthi authority approves the plan for the Prophet’s birthday as an alternative to disbursing salaries
English - Monday 04 September 2023 الساعة 05:15 pm
Sanaa, NewsYemen, exclusive:
“The Prophet’s birthday is more important than disbursing salaries,” a message in which the Houthi militias - Iran’s arm in Yemen, responded to the demands raised by hundreds of thousands of employees who have been deprived of their monthly salaries for years. Amid systematic depletion operations carried out by militia leaders against state revenues.
At a time when employees of areas under Houthi control were waiting for any serious moves to discuss the disbursement of their salaries; The heads of the Houses of Representatives, the Ministers, the Shura Council, and the Supreme Judiciary loyal to the Houthi appeared in an extraordinary meeting attended by prominent Houthi leaders in order to approve a huge budget under the slogan “Celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday - 12 Rabi’ al-Awwal - which falls on the 27th of next September.”
The leaders appeared at the meeting wearing green badges on their necks, under the title “Approval of the Presidency’s draft plan to commemorate the Prophet’s birthday and the government plan.” It is a plan for which billions of riyals have been allocated from state revenues and the public treasury.
According to what was reported by the Houthi media, the meeting distributed tasks and activities to ministries, government agencies, and localities in the capital secretariat and the governorates under the control of the militias. An expanded plan was also approved to promote in the media everything that is being implemented to commemorate this occasion, which the militias turned into a season for collecting, imposing royalties, and plundering money and revenues.
The meeting set main goals that include exploiting citizens, most of whom will be forced to attend and participate in Houthi activities, in order to attract them and mobilize towards the fighting fronts. In addition to other goals of collecting donations and funds under the guise of charitable works, righteousness and benevolence
The meeting sparked a state of discontent and popular anger at the Houthi militias' continued disregard for demands for salary payments, which have escalated over the past two months, led by a number of civilian components, including the Male and Female Teachers Club, which responded to the meeting by emphasizing the continuation of the comprehensive strike until the legitimate demands are met.
In a brief statement published on social media platforms, the club called on all male and female teachers and members of educational unions to launch a new phase of protests and expand the comprehensive strike in all governorates to extract rights and recover stolen salaries.
The Teachers' Club sent many letters to the House of Representatives and the Shura Council regarding the necessity of allocating sessions to discuss the human rights demands raised by members of the educational sector two months ago. And quickly take measures to restore rights to teachers who and their families face difficult living conditions.
Parliamentary sources revealed that there were threats received by many members of the House of Representatives who are still in Sanaa. Regarding refraining from holding sessions or discussions regarding the salaries of unpaid employees or the state’s general budget.
Media sources reported that the militia leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, summoned a number of members of the House of Representatives in Sanaa. After the escalation of parliamentary demands for the need to discuss the issue of salary cuts and the general budget, which the Houthi militias refuse to hand over to the parliament loyal to them.
According to the sources, the militia leader confirmed that discussing the current interruption of salaries and the general budget will disintegrate the home front and serve the aggression and the West, and that these matters are minor matters that should not be paid attention to now.
The prominent parliamentarian in Sanaa, Ahmed Saif Hashid, confirmed the truth of the information that confirmed that members of parliament had received warnings and threats against engaging in discussions about interrupted salaries or even demanding the disclosure of the final accounts of the general budget for the areas controlled by militias since 2015.
Hashid said, on the “X” platform, that the performance of the House of Representatives has witnessed a noticeable decline over the past days. Pointing out that representatives in the Sanaa Parliament attributed this to "higher directives", which they did not specify, to leave the government accountable or discussed, especially on the issue of the budget and salaries.
Hashid continued: “In eight years, the government has no longer provided us with any budgets or final accounts, and unfortunately this has been done with the complicity of some parties entrusted with further domesticating us, and with the support and cover of the current political will, which wants us to be blind, unable to ask or hold anyone accountable. She does not want the council or the people to know anything about revenues and expenditures, so that the question is not asked: Why are the salaries of employees, especially teachers, not paid?!
Yemeni political analyst Yahya Al-Abed said that the Houthi militias failed to silence people and repeatedly demand that their salaries be paid in the governorates they control.
Al-Abed explained, in a post on his page on the X platform, that the protests are expanding and popular rejection of the militias increases whenever they try to use threats and violate the rights of citizens to try to silence them and dissuade them from their human rights demands of receiving their salaries from the Houthis.
Al-Abed expected that the demands for salary disbursement would expand and reach a state of comprehensive escalation in the various areas controlled by the militias if they continued to ignore their disbursement.
