Iraqi PM bids to cancel posts of deputy PM and vice president
Mr Abadi’s main rival, former prime minister and current Shia vice-president Nuri al-Maliki, backed the proposals. Arabic on poster reads ‘”The people is your Iron fist in striking the corrupt”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Al Abadi, empowered by help from the nation’s prime Shiite cleric, proposed abolishing key authorities posts in a transfer that may check his authority in the fractured nation.
The cabinet has approved the Prime Minister’s proposed plan this afternoon but it needs to be approved by parliament for it to be binding.
They included the elimination of three vice-presidency positions, largely ceremonial jobs that come with expensive perks, and the end of sectarian and party quotas that have dominated the appointments of top officials.
Al-Abadi’s seven-point plan would dismantle portions of the top-heavy government created in the wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.
He also called for the creation of a committtee of judges to investigate cases of corruption within state institutions. That shows the level of anger among Iraqis in a country ranked 170 out of 175 on Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Index.
Protesters chant anti-government slogans while riot police guard the provincial council building during a protest against corruption and the lack of government services and power outage in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, August 7, 2015.
“Abadi chose the right time to take these decisions”, Hameed Fayad, a political science professor in Baghdad University, said.
That’s similar to the pledge al-Abadi made August. 10, 2014, when he was named premier-elect. Operations to recapture Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, have been postponed indefinitely.
But even with popular pressure and Sistani’s backing, the entrenched nature of corruption in Iraq and the fact that parties across the political spectrum benefit from it will make any efforts to change the system extremely hard.
“The winners from those airstrikes are the Kurds, not the Iraqi fighters who are battling the Islamic State group militants in Salahuddin and Anbar provinces”, said Hadi Jalu, an analyst who is also president of the Journalistic Freedom Observatory.
A year after assuming office following the Islamic State group’s rapid advance across northern and western Iraq, al-Abadi is still struggling to combat a the extremist group.
“The six months after have been downhill”, Jiyad added. Al-Maliki is widely alleged to have undermined his successor in a bid to eventually return to power, charges he denies.
“Eliminating deputies of the Iraqi presidency and government will restore 6 billion Iraqi dinars (more than $5 million) to the country’s treasury”, Masoud Haider told Rudaw.