ISIS was able to establish itself in Iraq because the government had failed to connect with the people, Abadi told Time magazine in an interview published on Thursday.
That will have to change in order to prevent a resurgence of the terror group and allow the country to rebuild, he argued.
“Our citizens must feel they are part and parcel of this country. This is essential… the government of the day can deliver to our citizens, and show our citizens that they are equal in front of the law.”
Reconstruction is an important aspect of restoring people’s faith in the country and their government, Abadi explained.
After failing to meet expectations at a donor conference in Kuwait last month, Baghdad is encouraging investment in the country to help reconstruction efforts, but rampant corruption is keeping potential investors at bay.
Abadi acknowledged that corruption is “epidemic” in Iraq. One way his government has tackled the issue is to increase transparency, “Because corruption hides in bureaucracy, in red tape,” he explained.
He used the passport office as a success story, explaining that simplifying the application process reduced the time it took to get a passport from months to days. This took out the problem of people paying bribes to fast-track their passport applications and was a much more effective crackdown on corruption than prosecution.
Abadi, however, was less optimistic about the ability of his, or any, government to solve the “age-old” divisions between communities.
“The role of the government is not to solve religious or sectarian or ethnic problems. These are age-old. I don’t think any government of the day can solve all differences,” he said.
Kurdish, Shiite, and Sunni differences were brought under the spotlight once again during months’ long efforts to pass the government’s 2018 budget bill. The bill was finally passed last week despite a boycott by Kurdish MPs who maintain their constitutional rights were ignored in the bill in the wake of Kurdistan’s vote for independence from Iraq last fall and Baghdad’s subsequent efforts to exert federal control over the autonomous region and the disputed areas.
Iraq will hold parliamentary elections on May 12 and provincial elections on December 22.
