Broker and bribe .. your way to complete any transaction in Yemen

Middle East

Mashtaq Alwan has repeatedly asked the Sanaa University School of Commerce to take his university degree after he got his baccalaureate degree, but he ran into complicated administrative procedures that could last for months, when his scholarship deadline would be over.

Two weeks after his permanent review of the college's Student Affairs Office, one of the staff whispered in his ear, "I want to testify quickly, I will cooperate with you because the scholarship is important."

He felt the need for the employee. He also came to the conviction that one had to be used to perform his administrative transactions for a substantial sum. After negotiations, he agreed to pay 20,000 riyals ($ 40).

The employee was careful to stress that the costs of extracting the university degree sometimes cost 40,000 riyals ($ 80). "Because your circumstances are difficult, I accepted this amount, which is not for me alone. Every employee wants his right."

No salaries
Since the start of the war in Yemen in early 2015, government institutions have collapsed and stopped working altogether. Months later, work resumed, but randomness and bureaucracy were common features of the functioning of the administrative system.

It has become very common for anyone to look at the beginning of the person who works in the government agency where he will be treated, and then look for those who are related to that body, to facilitate the completion of transactions.

The salary cuts of about 1.2 million government employees since October 2016 have doubled the prevalence of bribery, which has become popular in the popular sense. Employees believe that the money they pay for doing business is essential because they work without pay.

Sanaa's civil affairs officer, Abdul Aziz Abdullah, says the suspension of salaries has forced staff to beg for bribes, so that their lives will continue and that their children will be fed up with the cost of living and high prices.

"I do not allow myself to receive a bribe from anyone, but now I accept, and some colleagues do not do any interest unless the citizen pays a certain amount."

Organized trade
The situation in the Houthi-controlled areas is not limited to the public sector, but it is also commonplace in the areas under the authority of the Yemeni government, where employees receive better conditions and receive their salaries on a regular basis.

In some government departments closed by the war four years ago, work has returned to be the only destination for Yemenis, especially with regard to customs, taxes, document extraction and others.

This resulted in great congestion, creating new conditions fertile ground for thousands of brokers who exploited the need of people to make money for their transactions.

In the city of Marib, Rashid Saleh was forced to pay 170,000 riyals ($ 340) to one of the brokers, in exchange for three passports from government-controlled areas after the suspension of passports issued by the Houthi authorities.

Before the outbreak of the war, issuing the passport cost 4,500 riyals ($ 9 only) for government fees.

"I stayed in Sanaa . If I traveled to Marib, I would lose twice the amount of housing, expenses, daily follow-up and bribes, but the broker brought my passport to my home in Sanaa without fatigue," Rashid told Al Jazeera.net.

"With money, everything is going according to what you want, and even when the state and the regime are in place, it will be the same," said one of the brokers, who preferred not to be identified.

Old behavior
On the other hand, those who pay for this phenomenon are thousands of poor people who have not been able to cope with this life.

Muadh al-Khader, a taxi driver, said he could not pull his bike out of the traffic department in Sanaa because he could not afford to pay money to the traffic people in return for being forgiven for breaking it.

"I know they are needy and poor, but I do not have money," he told Al Jazeera.net.

Bribery has strengthened corruption in the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula. According to the latest Transparency International report, Yemen ranks 175th internationally, as the world's most corrupt country.

Extended behavior
In the view of Dr. at the Faculty of Social Sciences and the College of Information at the University of Sana'a Wadih al-Azzazi, the reliance on the broker and bribery in government work is not an emergency due to the absence of the state and the circumstances experienced by the country, but is a long and prolonged disgraceful behavior.

"At the beginning of the rule of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, this has become a culture established by the regime, and thus has become a major feature of corruption for that stage," he said. "The reason is the disruption of the rule of law.

The academic says that this will be rooted in society until there is a conscious and sincere national leadership in the various institutions of the state, rejecting this corrupt behavior and implementing the laws. It is also linked to the social roles of the media and civil society organizations in rejecting this behavior and exposing those who practice it.