Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi introduced a series of sweeping reforms over the weekend designed to fight rampant corruption in Iraq and strengthen the government against the Islamic State group onslaught, including the dismissal of some of the highest officials in government
“This reform package is ambitious and bold,” says Ahmed Ali, an analyst and researcher at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani. “Abadi has to take big decisions to show his decisiveness. He’s attempting to achieve that with this initiative.”
Questions remain, however, about how he will implement the plan and manage its expectations, Ali says.
The seven-point plan al-Abadi released includes eliminating the deputy prime minister position, as well as the post of co-vice president. Three men currently hold that title, including former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who Abadi and his U.S. backers have repeatedly faulted during his tenure for elevating at times unqualified fellow Shiite Muslims to top positions and fomenting the ethnic tensions that allowed for the Islamic State group to seize control of massive swathes of largely Sunni territory.
The plan still needs parliamentary approval to be passed. It remains unclear whether the changes can successfully overcome widespread dysfunction that has contributed to Iraq’s current precarious situation.
“The formation of this government raised hopes among Iraqis, and we have to be the expectations of our people,” said al-Abadi in a translated version of a tweet. “We are committed to the spirit of the Constitution and the law.”
Roughly a thousand demonstrators gathered in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square in support of the new plan, according to The Associated Press, following prior widespread protests against government corruption and poor services. The crowd included Shiite activists, those who have benefited most from Maliki’s divisive rule.
The plan eliminates personal security details, or PSDs, for all senior officials, moving those personnel to the departments of defense and interior so they can contribute to a national security system desperately strained by the Islamic State group. It will also eliminate regulations encouraged by the U.S. that mandate top positions be split among the three largest ethnic groups in Iraq, the Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. The rules, designed to create diversity in government, has instead elevated less qualified people. A new special committee formed by Abadi “will select candidates in the light of standards of competence and integrity and exempt the senior officials who lack such requirements.”
It also cuts special benefits to top officials, and creates a supreme committee to identify instances of suspected corruption and for a special judicial panel to investigate and prosecute those cases.
The government has the responsibility to correct the “accumulated mistakes of the political system,” Abadi said.
Those include the closeted political machinations that have weakened the Iraqi government and crippled its ability to fight the Islamic State group.
Maliki, believed to enjoy a close association with neighboring Iran, has been suspected of plotting to orchestrate a return to power since agreeing to step down as prime minister a year ago this week. Abadi himself has reportedly expressed concern that Maliki might use the co-vice president position to garner support. But the former leader praised Abadi and his efforts over the weekend, calling them “reforms required by the political process.”
“We support any action aimed at evaluating the political process,” he said in a tweet, adding that he would continue to back Abadi and encouraging others in government to do the same.
Maliki’s attempts to bolster power among the majority Shiites — long oppressed under the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, a Sunni — included removing top generals installed under the U.S. train-and-equip program in the latter stages of the Iraq War and installing oftentimes unqualified cronies he prefered. Top American military trainers have remarked privately that they don’t recognize any of the Iraqi military flag officers today compared to those who led when the U.S. withdrew in 2011.
Instability caused by the Islamic State group onslaught combined with government weakness has severely damaged Iraq’s ability to extract and sell oil, a key element of its economy accounting for 84 percent of its exports.
The oil-rich Kurdish region in Iraq’s north has reportedly begun selling the commodity on its own, according to The Washington Post, after breaking with an agreement last month and ceasing transferring oil to the state.
The move, combined with Abadi’s reforms, only further raises questions about whether the increasingly divided Iraqi society will be able to weather current tensions and avoid dividing into separate countries along deep ethnic fissures.
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Iraq Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi Unveils Bold Reforms originally appeared on usnews.com
