Parties divided on KRG’s first 100 day track record
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – How a government fairs in its first 100 days often cements lasting perceptions of its overall performance. As the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) passes this milestone, reviews have been mixed.
Unsurprisingly, the coalition of parties which make up the ninth cabinet have slapped themselves on the back, praising a job well done, while opposition parties in the Erbil-based legislature have called out the administration’s shortcomings.
Following a KRG report on its achievements to date, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani made a lengthy televised speech on Saturday detailing his government’s progress and restated the goal of fighting corruption, improving Erbil-Baghdad relations, and increasing domestic revenue.
“We have made great developments and our works are moving forward on the right track and considerable achievements have been made,” Barzani said. “We reiterate our commitment to work towards a stronger Kurdistan and have a government to serve the people, not the contrary; that has been the basis of our work since day one.”
The KRG has made good progress in “improving our relations with the federal government of Baghdad, fighting corruption, restoring transparency to the domestic and public revenues, and ending bureaucracies across government apparatuses,” he added.
Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the senior partner in the joint administration, alongside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran).
On Sunday, Gorran officially expressed its stance on the government’s self-assessment, sharing reservations on the pedestrian pace of pension and salary reform.
“We believe the reform steps have not yet met the expectations of the calls of the people of the Kurdistan Region,” a statement from the party’s media office read, calling on the KRG “to speed up” the steps and “make them more effective” in order to serve the people of the Region.
The KRG sent a pension and salary reform package to parliament to be debated and passed back in August 2018. However, the previous parliament did not pass the bill due to disagreements among parliamentary blocs. The task was therefore left to the current cabinet, which is amending the previous government’s reform package before sending it back to parliament to be passed into law.
Though generally content with the government’s performance, the PUK believes there is yet more to be done.
“In the partnership government, good work has been done in the past 100 days,” Saadi Ahmed Pira, a PUK politburo member, said Sunday. “Much more is yet to be done.”
“I am sure as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, for the sake of reform and protection of the interests of the people of the Kurdistan Region, we will do our utmost to support the KRG,” Pira said.
Opposition parties, however, have expressed strong disapproval of the government's performance over the past three months.
A Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) official derided the government’s achievements. With government unable to provide even the most basic of the public’s needs, he questioned how it could then be expected to address corruption and the controversial reform project.
"They [KRG] have not been able to fulfill their promises for the people of the Kurdistan Region," senior KIU official Mustafa Abdulla said.
"People had pinned much hope on this new government believing massive changes will be made," he explained. "In matters related to salaries, the living conditions of people and heating oil for people in this winter, you feel like nothing big has been done."
Leader of the New Generation Shaswar Abdulwahid slammed PM’s Barzani speech, branding it a cabinet assessment “of no value.”
It is the people who should evaluate the government's work, not political leaders and the prime minister, Abdulwahid said on Monday.
"You become a successful government only when the living conditions of the people have improved," he said. "Assessment of a good or bad performance of any government in the world is made once you have provided services for your people."
Unsurprisingly, the coalition of parties which make up the ninth cabinet have slapped themselves on the back, praising a job well done, while opposition parties in the Erbil-based legislature have called out the administration’s shortcomings.
Following a KRG report on its achievements to date, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani made a lengthy televised speech on Saturday detailing his government’s progress and restated the goal of fighting corruption, improving Erbil-Baghdad relations, and increasing domestic revenue.
“We have made great developments and our works are moving forward on the right track and considerable achievements have been made,” Barzani said. “We reiterate our commitment to work towards a stronger Kurdistan and have a government to serve the people, not the contrary; that has been the basis of our work since day one.”
The KRG has made good progress in “improving our relations with the federal government of Baghdad, fighting corruption, restoring transparency to the domestic and public revenues, and ending bureaucracies across government apparatuses,” he added.
Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is the senior partner in the joint administration, alongside the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the Change Movement (Gorran).
On Sunday, Gorran officially expressed its stance on the government’s self-assessment, sharing reservations on the pedestrian pace of pension and salary reform.
“We believe the reform steps have not yet met the expectations of the calls of the people of the Kurdistan Region,” a statement from the party’s media office read, calling on the KRG “to speed up” the steps and “make them more effective” in order to serve the people of the Region.
The KRG sent a pension and salary reform package to parliament to be debated and passed back in August 2018. However, the previous parliament did not pass the bill due to disagreements among parliamentary blocs. The task was therefore left to the current cabinet, which is amending the previous government’s reform package before sending it back to parliament to be passed into law.
Though generally content with the government’s performance, the PUK believes there is yet more to be done.
“In the partnership government, good work has been done in the past 100 days,” Saadi Ahmed Pira, a PUK politburo member, said Sunday. “Much more is yet to be done.”
“I am sure as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, for the sake of reform and protection of the interests of the people of the Kurdistan Region, we will do our utmost to support the KRG,” Pira said.
Opposition parties, however, have expressed strong disapproval of the government's performance over the past three months.
A Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) official derided the government’s achievements. With government unable to provide even the most basic of the public’s needs, he questioned how it could then be expected to address corruption and the controversial reform project.
"They [KRG] have not been able to fulfill their promises for the people of the Kurdistan Region," senior KIU official Mustafa Abdulla said.
"People had pinned much hope on this new government believing massive changes will be made," he explained. "In matters related to salaries, the living conditions of people and heating oil for people in this winter, you feel like nothing big has been done."
Leader of the New Generation Shaswar Abdulwahid slammed PM’s Barzani speech, branding it a cabinet assessment “of no value.”
It is the people who should evaluate the government's work, not political leaders and the prime minister, Abdulwahid said on Monday.
"You become a successful government only when the living conditions of the people have improved," he said. "Assessment of a good or bad performance of any government in the world is made once you have provided services for your people."