Since assuming the post of president of the Supreme Political Council as a successor to the martyr president Saleh al-Sammad, President Mahdi al-Mashat vowed to continue the project “A hand builds and the other protects” launched by al-Sammad on the third anniversary of the steadfastness in the face of Saudi-led coalition countries’ war on Yemen.
Despite the difficult situation and the critical stage that Yemen has been going through since the end of March 2015, the President al-Mashat is working diligently to maintain the state institutions’ activity in order to achieve stability and improve their performance to serve the homeland and the people. And that what he urged the National Salvation Government a week after he entered the presidential palace.
Service Development
The president worked to improve the economic and service performance, to address the challenges imposed by the coalition, and to fill the vacuum and vacancies in the state administrative sector at the level of the center and the provinces. He also paid great attention to the coordination and integration between the legislative and executive authorities, in addition to activating the Central Organization for Control and Auditing and the corruption combat, and developing revenues.
Month of Goodness
As the holy month of Ramadan came, al-Mashat put the issue of providing goods and needs for citizens at reasonable prices before his eyes. He assigned this task to the Yemeni Economic Corporation, which held the food festival for the holy month with the participation of a number of commercial houses providing different commodities with affordable prices to alleviate the suffering of citizens in light of the war and siege conditions. The president also directed paying of a half of salary to all the state employees.
The president gave a great priority to Hodeidah province in terms of development and infrastructure, and he sought to make it an important destination for attracting investments in various fields. The president directed to find alternative buildings for students the medical colleges’ compound in Hodeidah, which was destroyed by the coalition. He also directed supplying the Hygiene and Improvement Fund in the province with the necessary equipment, in addition to a 50 per cent reduction in electricity bills for citizens during the month of Ramadan.
He ordered the rehabilitation of the electricity stations that were supplying electricity to the capital Sanaa and the improvement of hygiene and the public parks, as well as developing a traffic plane, planning streets and finding alternative public markets in the capital.
Steadfastness and Planning
During three months from his term, the president worked on the continuous provision of the domestic gas and the stability of the security aspect within the capital Sanaa.
In addition to the establishment of the General Authority for Zakat, the president directed the concern bodies to expand and improve health services and support hospitals and medical centers in the capital Sanaa to enable them to provide health and medical services to citizens and alleviate the suffering of patients.
Struggle
During his meetings with the UN envoy to Yemen, al-Mashat demanded re-opening of Sanaa International Airport, paying the employees’ salaries, lifting the ban and restrictions on Yemeni ports and allowing access of the necessary relief and food items to millions of trapped Yemeni citizens suffering the greatest human-made humanitarian crisis in this age.
The president asserted always that Yemen is with peace, in the event that the other parties represented by the coalition and its internal parties have a real intention for achieving peace.
Confrontation and Mobilization
The president sought to restore the pioneering and national role of the national defense institution in carrying out its constitutional duties in defending the national sovereignty against all dangers and challenges facing the country in light of the ongoing war waged by the allied countries on Yemen.
He worked hard to support the fronts and strengthening the role of the army and popular committees in the combat lines, as he believed in the importance of the continuing mobilization and heading to the fronts to stop the coalition countries’ projects and foil their schemes.
The president has moved in all his works from his belief in the duty entrusted to him to defend the homeland and its fair issue as a president for Yemen at a critical stage.
