Iraq Parliament approves PM’s anti-corruption plan

BAGHDAD: Iraq’s Parliament on Tuesday unanimously approved Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi’s reform program aimed at curbing the corruption and government waste that sparked widespread anger and weeks of protests.
Abadi on Sunday proposed a series of measures to combat graft, streamline the government and improve services after the protests and a call from Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani for drastic change.
But both Abadi’s reform program and an additional list of measures also approved by parliament only outline steps to be taken. Actually implementing them will be a difficult process fraught with potential political and legal challenges.
“It was unanimously approved,” Parliament speaker Salim Al-Juburi announced to applause after the vote, which was held without a debate as soon as the plan was read in a session attended by 297 of 328 MPs.
Abadi issued a statement congratulating the Iraqi people on the passage of the plan and pledging “to continue the path of reform even if it costs me my life.”
One of the most drastic of Abadi’s proposals, which were approved by the cabinet on Sunday, was the call for the posts of vice president and deputy prime minister to be eliminated “immediately.”
Abadi’s plan also calls for an end to unofficial but prevalent “political and sectarian quotas” for senior officials, for increased oversight to prevent corruption, and for services to be improved, among other measures.
Juburi had urged MPs to sign off on the reforms, but said that a “complementary” parliamentary reform plan was needed to add to and “adjust” Abadi’s measures in keeping with the law and the constitution.
That plan overlaps with Abadi’s proposals on various points while adding others.
New measures include calling for “negligent and corrupt” ministers to be presented for no-confidence votes, the “activation” of a law providing for the removal of excessively absent MPs, and limits of two terms for the premier, president and Parliament speaker.
The parliamentary plan was also read and approved without debate, and the session — most of which was taken up by the reading of the two plans — ended some 30 minutes after it began.
The approval is a victory for Abadi, but the question now becomes how thoroughly the measures will be implemented, and what politicians and other officials may do to try to thwart them.
“All Iraqi politicians officially support reform and the fight against corruption but they all engage very heavily in corruption,” said Zaid Al-Ali, author of “The Struggle For Iraq’s Future.”
“They have to say that they support reform, but they will work against it.”