Bilqis Abu Osba, Deputy Chairwoman of the Supreme National Anti-Corruption Commission (SNACC), said on Monday that a lack of political will had negatively affected the commission’s performance.

“All reports on financial and administrative corruption at the ministries and other public offices were documented and archived, but the commission is facing major challenges in its fight against corruption,” she said.

“There are obvious deficiencies of the anti-corruption laws, the first of which is the gap between the law No 39 for 2006 and UN convention against corruption,” she explained.

Abu Osba’s remarks came in a presentation which she delivered to the NDC’s Independence of Special Entities Working Group.  

The same audience of group members also received a lecture from Abdullah Al-Sanafi, the Chairman of the Central Organization for Control and Auditing (COCA).

Al-Sanafi’s extensive experience at COCA included his monitoring the state budget and all public funds.

“Part of COCA’s job is to monitor how public funds are spent, and to play a key to role in providing technical assistance to certain public offices in efforts to improve their performance,” he said.

“Nonetheless, there is an urgent need to make basic amendments to Yemen’s current legal system, at least to make it absorb all needed financial, economic and legal changes,” Al-Sanafi concluded.