Tuesday 11 August 2015

Iraqi Communist Party statement about government decisions in response to mass protests


Iraqi Communist Party statement about the decisions taken by the Iraqi government in response to mass protests against corruption 

Iraqi Communist Party:  A Positive Step which must be Consolidated and Completed


The Political Bureau of the Iraqi Communist Party issued the following statement on 9 August 2015 with regard to the decisions announced by the Council of Ministers headed  by Haider al-Abadi in response to the growing mass protests in Baghdad and 8 other provinces against rampant corruption and lack of electricity and basic services: 
The Council of Ministers announced today a number of decisions that deserve to be welcomed. They come in response to the wishes of millions of Iraqis and reflect an interaction with the protest demonstrations that swept Iraq's cities and involved hundreds of thousands of our people, demanding the provision of services, exposure of corruption, holding to account the corrupt, condemnation of mismanagement and power-sharing, and consolidating the confrontation of terrorism.
The decisions that relate to austerity measures are aimed at putting an end to the illegal privileges, cutting costs, reducing allocations and salaries of senior government officials, eliminating posts that are based on favoritism, reducing the security detail of senior officials and directing the surplus to strengthen the forces of the defense and interior ministries, re-opening the cases of corruption and speeding up bringing the corrupt to account, and retrieving public funds from those who stole them. All this represents a sound beginning. In order for this beginning to be fruitful and be realized on the ground, and not remain only promises and pledges as many previous similar measures have been, the following is required:
- Complementing the stated decisions by taking additional measures that would turn this first step into a steadfast and firm orientation that includes all aspects of the state and society. These should extend to including the protection of the country's economy from the parasitic mafias inside state institutions and outside, which are an extension and an ally of the bureaucracy of government officials and its administrative organs, who have amassed billions by looting, manipulation and deceit, and through bribes, mediation, “commissions”, in business transactions, contracts, financial and banking business and in suspicious trade.
- Developing effective mechanisms and the creation of a healthy atmosphere so that these measures make their way to speedy implementation and without delay. This will deprive evil elements the opportunity to obstruct and circumvent them and empty them of their real content. This requires appointing efficient, fair and professional bodies for oversight and implementation in order to get the job done efficiently and on time.
- Reliance on popular will to support every positive step, in order to paralyze the will of the obstructionists among parasitic elements, the merchants of pain and wars, profiteering thieves, the hypocrites of opportunistic politicians and allies of mafias. This should be the starting point for supporting the national armed forces with all its formations in confronting terrorism and Daesh (ISIS).
- Adopting a political approach that is consistent with the magnitude of the process of true reform and its importance and difficulty. This is summarized in destabilizing the sectarian-ethnic power-sharing system and putting an end to it, along with the misleading plans produced by it that ensure the distribution of the spoils among its beneficiaries, rather than weakening and getting rid of it (such as the so-called “balancing” measures, the monopoly of governmental posts, special exceptions .. etc.).
- Urging the Parliament to finish the legislation of all the urgent laws, and activating the ones that are suspended (the Service Law, the Social Security Law, the laws contained in the Political Document [that was the basis for the formation of Abadi’s government], amending the Election Law, legislation of the Parties Law.. etc.). This will provide a favorable legislative climate to pave the way for the process of change and reform, paralyze any effort or attempt to put obstacles in front of this urgent need through contrived complexities and worn-out disputes that have so far played a role in blocking any reform effort and serving the interests of the protectors of corruption and the corrupt.
The eyes of our people, men and women, old and young, of all ethnicities, religions and sects, and with different intellectual and political orientations, will remain open. Their presence in the squares, the arenas for the expression of the legitimate demands, will continue in support of all the positive measures and in backing for all the goodwill efforts that are aimed at putting Iraq on the path of true democracy and social justice, to defeat terrorism and corruption, so as to ensure security, stability, a dignified life and decent standard of living and of services, and remove all impediments to joining mankind’s civilized march, and building their own federal, independent and sovereign civil democratic state.

The Political Bureau - Iraqi Communist Party

9 August 2015



No comments: