Chairman of Supreme Economic Committee of Transitional Council clarifies about faltered salaries of military and security

The Chairman of the Supreme Economic Committee of the Southern Transitional Council, member of the Southern Self-Administration, Dr. Abdel Salam Saleh Homaid, said that the government, represented by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, are responsible for paying the salaries of the armed forces and security, and the offices of ministries, the faltered institutions, and the retirees.

Homaid pointed out in a press statement that this is at the core of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank responsibilities and obligations, indicating that the Supreme Economic Committee had confirmed in a statement at the announcement of the self-administration, that the self-administration will work hard to organize the resources and use them to improve public services in the capital Aden and the liberated governorates in the south, despite the fact that the resources collected from customs and taxes in the capital Aden cover only a fraction of the services expenses.

Homaid noted that the decision of the self-administration regarding the revenues came after making sure that these revenues go to other than the channels that should be, with evidence that the salaries of the armed forces to be paid faltered for more than seven months during the years 2018 and 2019 and about four months during the year 2020, and since the return of the government, after the signing of the Riyadh Agreement, there has been no enough fuel for electricity power stations available in quantities that could provide some kind of stability in power generation, and other requirements, while large amounts of money go to governorates that did not supply their revenues to the Central Bank such as Marib, Taiz and Hadramout valley, in addition to the regular payment of salaries of employees in the provinces that are still controlled by the Houthi militia.

Homaid reaffirmed that the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank bear full responsibility for delaying the dues of the aforementioned entities, and that everyone is fully aware that the central bank’s treasury and its branches have funds enable them to pay for those commitments, especially since the central bank has printed more than two trillion Rials during the past three years.

In the context of his statement, Homaid added: “We also draw the attention of the Central Bank’s leadership from not using the printed cash containers (the excuse) that these parties comment on, and reject to fulfill their commitments to the people who are crushed by crises, the scourge of wars and deadly epidemics, and stopping dues from salaries and others. Today people are aware and realized that printing large quantities of paper money without the cover of foreign exchange, or of productive goods and services, will have catastrophic results on the purchasing power of the local currency and will be accompanied by higher prices for goods and services, and as a result the income level will decrease and poverty rates will be much higher than they are today ”

He stressed that they shouldn't not punish the heroes of these defense and security institutions that have sacrificed many years in defense of the nation’s sovereignty and still doing their national duty on the fronts of the fighting to repel the invading militias of the Houthi or Brotherhood militias, and also working to establish security and stability in the cities and regions of the liberated governorates and institutions of the state and the private sector, including the central bank.

At the end of his statement, Homaid warned against intransigence and ignorance towards not paying the dues of members of the military and security institutions, stressing that there will be unforeseen consequences and repercussions and the parties obstructing the payment of these dues will bear the responsibility.