BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister dismissed his cabinet secretary yesterday as part of an ambitious reform drive he said was under threat from corrupt politicians and Shiae militia leaders who use their armed followers for political ends.
A year in office, Haider Al Abadi has launched the biggest overhaul of the political system since the end of US military occupation, enacting a risky package of measures designed to enhance his own power and strip authority from political chieftains who have run Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Lawmakers unanimously voted on Tuesday to eliminate a layer of senior government posts, scrap sectarian and party quotas for state positions, reopen corruption investigations and give Abadi power to fire regional and provincial bosses.
The bold moves will strip some of Iraq’s most powerful people of official titles, including Abadi’s predecessor Nuri Al Maliki, whose post of vice president is one of those to be abolished.
An official in his media office described Abadi’s decision to sack his cabinet secretary and his aides as “part of a push to cut unnecessary government jobs”.
Abadi’s reform package has garnered public praise from across party and sectarian lines as well as from Western governments. It is also backed by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani.
Abadi said yesterday that he still expected resistance from beneficiaries of the old system. “The corrupt will not sit idly by,” said Abadi. “Those with interests and privileges will defend their interests and privileges. Some of them will even fight for them. They will attempt to sabotage every step we take towards it.”
While he did not name those he accused of plotting sabotage, he issued a warning against the politicisation of Shia militias, whose leaders have become far more powerful over the past year as their forces have played the main role in battling Islamic State militants that seized northern and western Iraq. “We should remove the Hashid Shaabi from the political field,” he said, referring to a government body that acts as an umbrella for the militias.
Abadi insisted his reforms were not targeted at anyone in particular, although he warned that opponents might try to portray him as hostile to particular communities to stir up resentment.
“I fear some will try to direct my words towards one individual or another, against a certain group or organisation. I do not have anyone specifically in mind,” he said. While Abadi’s backing from Sistani makes it difficult for the prime minister’s rivals within the Shia majority to oppose his measures publicly, they could still try to spoil the reforms from behind the scenes.
Reuters
