In 2013, most of Iraq’s provinces
received new governments following elections. One of the first things many of
the new administrations did was announce that the previous governorate councils
walked away with millions of dollars in corrupt development deals. Over 200 of
such cases were just discovered in Baghdad. The new governor blamed the theft
for the lack of services in the province. The problem is the new officials are
likely to be just as crooked as the old ones as stealing government funds is
considered a privilege of holding office in Iraq.
In September, new Baghdad Governor
Ali al-Tamimi announced that tens of millions of dollars had been stolen by the
previous provincial government. The governor held a press conference saying
major politicians and businessmen from the previous administration were involved. He said one project had $68 million taken, while another had $18
million missing, and included such notable landmarks as the Baghdad Airport. In total, the new provincial council turned over 211 cases to the
anti-corruption Integrity Commission to investigate. He added that none of the
projects surpassed a 5% completion rate, and was the reason why the capital
lacked essential services. Baghdad is not the only new local government that
has charged the old one with stealing tons of money. Governor Tamimi also has a
vested interest in condemning the former council. Tamimi is from the Sadr
Trend, while his predecessor was from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of
Law. One of the themes that the Sadrists have been pushing in recent years is
that they are against corruption. Moqtada al-Sadr has also become increasingly critical of the premier in anticipation of the 2014 national vote. The
governor therefore is killing two birds with one stone by bringing up these
cases. He can try to win over the public with his claim of clean government,
while taking on Maliki at the same time. The real question is if anything
substantive will come of it. Iraq is rated one of the most corrupt countries in
the world. That’s because graft has become institutionalized as a means of
ruling the country. Taking money is considered part of the compensation for
taking a public job, and accepting bribes is how things get done. Therefore
there is no push to follow through on any major corruption case. Since these
ones allegedly involve powerful people nothing will come of them, and Governor
Tamimi is just looking to score political points by making them public.
Baghdad’s news that millions were
absconded with by the previous provincial government should come as no
surprise. The administration before that probably stole as much as it could,
the last one did the same, and the new one will too. This is the sad story of
Iraq today. Since the country earns such huge sums of money from oil revenues
officials believe they can take what they want. The result is dozens and dozens
of projects that were either just started or only in the planning stages are now
sitting dormant across Baghdad. This needs to be considered every time
politicians announce some new project in any part of the country. There’s a
good chance that they will result in nothing, because they are simply a scheme
to steal money. Iraq has huge needs in terms of infrastructure and services
after years of sanctions and war. Many of those will never be met because of
the chronic corruption, which is more widespread today than it ever has been.
SOURCES
Dananer, “Baghdad: assignments of
2011 projects to the Integrity Commission,” 9/14/13
- “Governor of Baghdad reveals
corruption in the work of the previous administration at 80 billion dinars,”
9/11/13
Radio Nawa, “Governor of Baghdad
reveals theft of tons of billions in construction projects,” 9/10/13
No comments:
Post a Comment