Call to wean Yemeni poor off handouts

Sana'a: None of Ahmad Aiham's 8 children goes to school because of poverty. Two of his six boys reached forth grade and dropped out but neither of the two daughters, who got married very early, went to school at all.

The Aiham family is an example of thousands of poor in the mountainous area of Wesab, about 250km south west of the Yemeni capital Sana'a.

His family is one of about 15,000 poor families in Wesab who get financial assistance from the government every three months to help them cope with the poverty that threatens the whole country.

"I get 12,000 Yemeni riyals ($60, Dh220) every three months, and that's only the price of two sacks of wheat, and my family needs at least one sack every two weeks," said Aiham.

Despite the fact that poor families and individuals who get this assistance increased from 40,000 in 1997, when the Social Care Fund (SCF) was established, to 1,400,000 in 2009 throughout the country, the number of poor is still on the rise.

About eight million people of the country's 22 million population are living below the poverty line according to World Bank statistics.

In Wesab, for instance, the whole population is estimated at 300,000, which means about 60,000 families are struggling. About quarter of these families get the SCF's assistance, but some say that the poor families get more than half.

"The problem is that about fifty per cent of the assistance money goes to corrupt tribal chiefs and not to the poor," said Rashad Morshid who used to be a volunteer with the SCF in the area of Wesab.

Some say the government should help the poor to start sustainable income resources rather than giving money.

"The money is not enough at all for the family, if the 6,000-12,000 Yemeni Riyals was to be given to each member, it will be reasonable," said Ameen Arrabyee, lawyer and human rights activist in the area.

The 6,000 - 12,000 Yemeni Riyals is the minimum and maximum amount of money given to the poor family depending on the number of persons.

"But if the government cannot give this amount to each member of the poor family, I think it would be better to help the poor families have sustainable income resources, like buying a cow or a sewing machine."

Tawfee Al Ameri, an expert at the SCF, disagrees with this point of view saying the money works for a lot of families. "If it does not work, you will not see the long queues waiting to get it," he said.

"When we hand the money to some poor people in the remote rural areas, they cry, they do not believe it, although its little," said Al Ameri, "The poor are not used to receiving money from the government, they were used to giving money to the government."

The rural areas, where poverty is higher, have about 70 per cent of the population. The Yemeni government has been implementing a comprehensive reform programme backed by the World Bank and IMF since 1995. And in an attempt to treat the negative impact of this programme on the poor as a result of lifting subsidiaries from the oil derivatives, the government established the SCF.

Critics say the government's tactics of fighting rampant poverty are not effective. Saif Al Asali, an economist, and Yemen's former minister of finance says' "These treatments are not enough and not effective to combat poverty, the government does not know who the poor are, and there is no accurate data."

However, Al Asali ruled out famine in his country, which faces a lot of economic and political challenges. "The situation may get worse, but not to the extent of starvation or famine, Yemen has resources that can help it overcome any threat of famine."

Combat poverty

The former minister of finance said the government needs to "institutionalise its policies and to implement the laws and rules if it wants to combat poverty."

He says Yemen should depend on itself in overcoming its economic problems; it should stop depending on others. "We should not wait for others to help us, we should take the initiative," he said. "But this does not mean ignoring other's assistance."

Ahmad Aiham says he earns 200,000 Yemeni Riyals at the best per year — from daily wages as a worker in agricultural and building works and from his small Khat farm. Khat is stimulant plant that's chewed by majority of Yemenis. "I get this amount of money only if there is rain and enough water in the dams to irrigate the khat," he said.

Some observers and analysts link the poverty in Yemen with activities of extremist groups like Al Qaida that exploit desperate situations by recruiting the poor and unemployed young men.