KIRKUK, Kirkuk Province — Kirkuk Governor Najmadin Karim harshly criticized Baghdad on Sunday over the province’s financial crisis due to a halt of funds from the central government. Karim expressed anger the central government was still sending Mosul its budget despite the fact the city is under the control of ISIS jihadis, but had halted Kirkuk payments, where “half a million refugees and displaced Iraqis” escaping from ISIS are currently sheltered. “I want to ask Baghdad, why do you send $28 million to clean up and rebuild roads in Mosul for your troops to be able to pass by, while it is now under the control of ISIS? Why halt the Kirkuk budget?” Karim asked in an exchange broadcast on Rudaw TV. Officials from all ethnic backgrounds in the multi-ethnic province of Kirkuk gathered Sunday to discuss financial problems they have faced since Baghdad halted the provincial budget. Karim also announced the creation of a committee tasked with visiting officials in Baghdad to discuss with them financial and service problems facing Kirkuk, including a lack of sufficient electricity. Karim said the oil-rich Kirkuk has not received its provincial budget for six months, and has not been paid for its oil in two years.
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