MP Ahmed Saif Hashed: National Dialogue Conference is “formal” and delay the solutions of problems instead of solving them

 Yemenat – Roaia

The Yemeni MP, "Ahmed Saif Hashed," is one of the most prominent protesters to the Reconciliation Government in Yemen. He has been known in the past as one of the most parliamentarians opposed to the regime of the former Yemeni President "Ali Abdullah Saleh,". Since the first day of the popular protests against the regime of "Saleh", Hashed was one of the most prominent leaders of the protests as he presides the CCRY which is the third largest component of the popular revolutionary presented in Change Square in Sana'a. He spoke to "Roaia" about the current situation of Yemen and the obstacles that the change movement is facing.

Interviewed by: Mohammed al-Hakimi

1- You have presented a lawsuit against the government regarding the  wounded revolutionaries treatment, and you won it. As a result, the government is obligated by the Yemeni judiciary to treat the wounded. The question is: from your point of view, why the government refused to treat the wounded youth, and is it true that the government treated some selected ones..?.

The government is busy with sharing the revolution profit  and the public office… the government denied its duties… it assigned several tasks to the militias, corruption patrons, and organizations and associations of partisan loyalty more severe than those we experienced in the past. The tribal and partisan lobbies practices dangerous policies that have grave consequences influencing our nation and its future.

The government entrusted the partisan and tribal institutions with its responsibilities, which misused their power. The government dealt with the wounded youth selectively on the bases of their partisan and tribal affiliation. Political parties, associations, organizations and personalities begged- on behalf of the killed and wounded revolutionaries- for their benefits and gained big wealth while many of the wounded died of anguish and  their bones  and bodies were eroded because of negligence. Some of their wounds turned to physical disabilities being present with them for the rest of their lives, because they cannot afford treatment expenses or because of their inability to save money for travel abroad. Some of the wounded were medically treated at the expense of their families and at some philanthropists expense while the donations which were collected in the interest of some others  unfortunately were stolen.

Some wounded revolutionaries went on hunger strike for more than half a month in Change Square in Sana'a, and have not received attention or consolation neither from the Government nor from those who collected the money on their behalf. Some of them carried out a sit-in on the Change Square podium, Sana'a for nearly a month, but  no one heeded them, neither the government nor  the organizing committee nor the finance committee nor those associations that collected money in the name of the revolution and the martyrs and the wounded; the bitter pill to swallow was that the security committee and militias for some partisan forces had expelled them from the podium and even threw some of them off the stage to the ground.

Many famous personalities pretended to help the wounded received billions from  indoors and outdoors charities and organizations in the name of  the martyrs and the wounded while the families of the martyrs are suffering from hunger and need, and the wounded are dying  because they could not get even an antibiotic injection. Revolution has exposed quite a few who pretended that they are revolutionaries, but they actually exploited the name of the revolution while, in fact, they are thieves, and more than thieves- some of them murderers and criminals.

2-as you are one of the leaders of the popular revolution in Yemen, and lead the third-largest revolutionary fraction in Sana'a, Taiz and Aden, known as the Civic Coalition of the Revolutionary Youth, do you think that the revolution succeeded in Yemen? And what do you think about those demands concerning taking away the tents of the protestors and closing the rest of the revolutionary squares in Yemeni cities..?

Traditional powers vigorously work to steal the revolution and, unfortunately, they have achieved success .. our revolution is betrayed, looted and stolen, but we confirm that this is not the final scene and we still have time to rescue our revolution.

We are against those demands in respect to closing the revolutionary  yards at least for the time being. Those who impose their authority on the squares by force, today they are calling for closing them.  They are the same who punish severely its youth and burn or carry away their tents, and looking for the day in which they are not existed any more. But in spite of all those obstacles the revolutionary youth have undefeatable  spirit… the spirit that refuses to surrender… the spirit that is renewed, despite expansion of death and the harm of the murderers.

The revolutionary youth will not withdraw from the squares unless they achieve their goals.  We are still at the beginning.  the corrupted system under the protection of the legal system, and the violations of rights and freedoms still exist. Injustice still grows and spreads.. Security is still absent; hunger mashes the bones and corruption abuses public wealth and ravages  the nation properties. Still we did not achieve our goals for which we are in the squares. No warranties or real means in fact guarantee that things will be better. If we left squares, in accordance with applicable law, we would be unable to arrange  demonstrations without a permission from the Ministry of Interior. The former corrupted and repressive system is reproduced with new forms.

3-How do you assess the experience of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi in the transitional phase..?

I do not see any important positive achievements. Transitional phase is a result of the Gulf Initiative which is a conspiracy against the revolution, that reproduces worse transcript of the former system.. to those who say that the initiative defused imminent war, we state that it will lead to great wars and will double the cost to the people thousand times if the powerful forces do not work quickly to protect  Yemen from risks and  to prevent the nation of sliding to disaster. They themselves will pay the price more than if they do not comprehend the Initiation danger.

Traditional and powerful forces still direct the political scene, and even become more powerful imposing outputs leading Yemen toward   disintegration, strife and underdevelopment,  to more severe, widespread and comprehensive failure and destruction.

Today, corruption is deeply penetrated in the governmental institutions; killing, assassination  and depression are more prevalent and the judiciary is disable to find and punish  the criminals;  lawlessness is scary and awful. Today disintegration  and degradation of what is left of our state leading Yemen toward  unbearable horribleness and perils that kill all hopes.

Today's traditional military, tribal and religious powers impose a fait accompli on the people and properties of the country, take over the revolution, wealth and control the future of Yemen setting it up for disaster. They are sharing and seizing the public office and corrupting the political life and civic values. Situations in Yemen are getting worse.

Wounded revolutionaries are dying; the families of the martyrs are starving;  judiciary do not establish the detainees' rights; murderers have no deterrent or injunction, and repression is an obeyed Sultan. Weapons of death and destruction  flow to Yemen. Crime spreads nationwide  and the people burden with calamities, disunity and deep wounds.

Yemen's future is vague.  Delaying solution of the issues and problems leads to more accumulated congestion, nourishing the effectiveness of risk, failure of the political configuration of the dialogue, and the inability to implement a single point of twenty points made by the Technical Committee and submitted to President Hadi. All these affairs make overcoming the dilemmas by the current power impossible. In addition,  strengthening traditional forces of power, and the adoption of sharing policy by the political parties and forces at the expense of civilization and future standards of good governance make the coming more darker.

4-one year is over the political settlement in Yemen which is resulted in the formation of  the Reconciliation government. Has this government  succeeded in their tasks; what do think about their work?

The government failures are much more to be counted. Moreover,  we are shocked and stunned by their failure. The so-called national reconciliation, in fact, is a sharing and a seizing of what is left of our country in a short time. The so-called national reconciliation is a reposition of powers in a preparation for an upcoming fight and much bloodier and uglier conflict.

What is alleged to be a national reconciliation and success story we see it a coming absolute failure. This government has neither vision nor project. It deals with the revolution and the nation as a war booty.

5- How do you evaluate the performance of the Yemeni parliament during the transition phase, and whether there has been a change in their performance concerning the discussion of issues and laws after the revolution??

Parliament that does not hold the government answerable nor withdraw confidence from a minister, does not call officers to account nor  arrest abuser  or corrupter, does not care about the corruption swallows home nor extradite criminals and murderers , rather gives them immunity at the stroke of a pen, does not stop repression or violation cannot be relied on it for better future in Yemen.

The existing parliament, the political leadership and the traditional tribal and military powers are part of the problem cannot be considered as part of the solution. Reformation needs new and different tools.

6-currently the political forces in Yemen are preparing for the national dialogue during this month .. How do you estimate the success of this process? Will you participate  in the Dialogue Conference? Have you been invited to do so..?

No. we have not been invited to participate in any dialogue in Yemen because the traditional powers are against any partnership. They  deliberately adopt the policy of overpowering, exclusion and obsession. We have experienced them. They are not changed and they have nothing to do for Yemen.

 Preparing for the dialogue is nothing but political deals between the political forces and parties which reproduce the former regime. The dialogue results will be, most probably, catastrophic on the nation and the people. It is held at the expense of democracy and civil project of the modern civil state.

Principally, we support the idea of a national dialogue, but we criticize the performance of the authority, its allies  and the way in which the dialogue is managed. Frankly speaking, if  the preparation of the national dialogue continues at the same mechanism, I  do not think I will agree to participate.  We do not have the willingness to bear the sins of others or be part of it leading Yemen to disaster. We will not be a veil for their sins, and will not deceive people by confirming what we know for sure that it does not produce solutions or better future for the coming generations.

We will be watching, practicing a pressure and resisting all who consider democracy a deal of interests and slave trade, all the beneficiaries at the expense of the people. We will oppose all who change the standards of  good governance to those of the tyranny and intentionally falsify public awareness through deception and lies.

We will not participate in misleading our people;  what is currently going on will not help in the development of Yemen and its people. We will remain revolutionaries who will never feel exhausted or disappointed. We will not abandon hope in our ability to change as long as the traditional powers, which have exploited and seized the revolution, are unable to establish a modern civil and democratic state, and unable to achieve a better future for our people.

The traditional powers will only lead Yemen to more failure and fiasco. Will not rush as long as we still have time, and as long as Egypt is still continuing its revolution.

Dialogue Conference, which ignores the new powers and depends on the political deals and quotas between the forces of power and their allies and conspires against the future is leading Yemen only to disastrously situation. In the best case, the dialogue conference is a formal one that is unable to find solutions for the problems and issues. A situation that has expensive cost.

7-What are the priorities and trends of the Civic Coalition of the  Revolution Youth? Will it continue or it is established for a particular point of time?

CCRY is one of the components of the Peaceful Revolution Salvation Front that is working to be the supporter and pillar of a real civil project that comprehends the current facts and meets the needs of the future.

PRSF and CCRY led by the youth is working  in order to be a conscious revolutionary opposition adopting a  real civil project for the future freedom.

CCRY, that was born from the womb of the revolution and suckled civic and democratic values, will follow the same approach and route. We will decide with our comrades and colleagues in the CCRY, which I preside over its preparatory committee, its future, in the light of present facts, either to be a political movement, pressure group or a political party. All possibilities are open as emerging and makes it more effective and influence and presence.