Kurdistan Region president signs reform bill into law

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan Region, formally signed a contentious reform bill into a law on Tuesday, designed to address abuses of the civil service payroll, pensions, and other perks. 

“Today, I signed the Reform of Pensions, Salaries, Allowances, Grants and other Benefits Law of the Kurdistan Region - Iraq number 2 of the year 2020,” Barzani said in a statement. 

“This bill was the topic of discussions and observations of the different classes and segments of society, and since the day it official arrived to the Regional Presidency, experts of the Regional Presidency and Council of Ministers discussed it in detail, and the positive and negative aspects of the law were showcased in an objective manner,” the president added.

The contentious bill was passed on January 16 with 89 members of the 111-seat parliament voting in favor.

The bill had the support of the three largest parties in the legislature; the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), and the Change Movement (Gorran).

Its main aims include the elimination of ghost employees and the claiming of more than one civil service salary, a reduction in pensions for MPs and other high ranking officials, and standardized retirement regulations. 

Another of its main targets is to eliminate pensions for those who have never served in government or security institutions but have been receiving one for being part of a political patronage network.

Based on a government agreement with parliament, a financial oversight authority and an integrity commission will work on the law’s implementation. Every three months, the government has to prepare a parliamentary report denoting its progress.

While lauded by the KDP, PUK, and Gorran – who make up the governing cabinet – the bill was criticized by opposition parties. 

New Generation staged a walkout during the parliamentary vote, while the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) and Islamic Group (Komal) abstained. They claimed the bill ensured high ranking officials received disproportionally high pension salaries compared to ordinary public sector employees.

The bill has now officially been signed into law.

“I assure everyone that we fully understand the feedback and reservations that there are in the pensions sections, and I assert that the law is another reform step in the administrative and financial field,” Barzani added.

Aware of the bill’s contentious sections regarding pensions, Barzani tasked the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) with preparing a Unified Pensions Bill for the Kurdistan Region.

“From this standpoint, we task the Kurdistan Regional Government to, in a reasonable time, prepare a Unified Pensions Bill for the Kurdistan Region and present it to the parliament in a fashion that ensures the principle and measure of justice and assure employees that their rights and entitlements will be guaranteed and preserved now and in the future,” he said.

The Kurdistan Region, much like the rest of federal Iraq, is blighted by deeply ingrained corruption and inefficiency. Masrour Barzani, the KRG prime minister and cousin of the president, said upon taking office he would clean up the system.