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.
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