PM Abadi: Iraq needs more info for Kurdish salaries, may attend parliament

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi reiterated paying KRG salaries but Baghdad first needs to get precise information, expressing concerns about corruption. He also touched on the possibility of him attending Wednesday’s parliament session where KRG’s budget share will be debated.

“We are still committed and eager to paying salaries of the [Kurdistan] Region and the reopening of the airports. Committees are still working,” said Abadi in his weekly press conference on Tuesday night.

The Iraqi government has formed ten committees to audit the list of KRG’s Health and Education ministries. Abadi has said that the committees need to at first finish their task.

“We have made a lot of progress, and we are eager to support the sons and daughters of the Region while at the same time implementing all possible reforms and staying away from corruption,” Abadi added.

Abadi said that his government has to make sure that salaries are paid to worthy employees. 

The KRG has introduced a reform package with a list based off of biometric data. The KRG has also introduced a bill to eliminate ghost employees and those taking more than one salary.

“There are issues with the accuracy of the available information on the employees, and we want to ascertain whether these employees are working for real and are in their departments,” Abadi explained.

Abadi expressed he does not wish for government employees’ salaries to be political in nature, and hope the salaries will not go to unworthy individuals.

The KRG Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has met with Abadi twice, once in Baghdad and in Davos. They have a third meeting planned soon.

Abadi expressed that progress has been made and that things are on the right track, calling it Baghdad’s “duty.”

The PM also met with two Kurdish politicians on Monday — the head of the Coalition for Justice and Democracy Barham Salih and New Generation Movement leader Shaswar Abdulwahid.

The first reading of the Iraqi budget for 2018 also took place on Monday despite a boycott by the Kurdish and some Sunni MPs — mainly over the contentious issue of budget sharing.

The Kurdistan Region has demanded 17 percent of the budget — as has been the case since the foundation of the new Iraq after the US invasion in 2003 — while the Iraqi government insists on a lower share, as low as 12.6 percent, arguing that amount represents a “fair” share compared to the Kurdish population.

Abadi said he told parliament that he “showed readiness” to attend Wednesday’s session to discuss “all aspects of the bill.”

“The budget is like this. This is the income. Yes some do exert pressure for increasing the oil prices. We counted the price of oil as 46 dollars. It is correct that the price of oil is higher, but it is fluctuating, so there is danger. We have to decrease expenditures while there is fluctuation,” Abadi told the reporters.

Abadi hinted there may be revenue in the future, but it will be used “for developmental projects,” adding that “we cannot meet all demands.”

The premier posited whether it would be in the interest of the country to take loans and “be riddled with paying interest.”

“I hope the discussion is not related to elections and I consider this delay of the budget bill a big malfunction,” he said.

Abadi, who heads the Nasr coalition, and Ammar al-Hakim, who heads the Wisdom Movement, jointly announced their split in a joint statement on Monday. The Shiite politicians agreed to reunite after the elections, within the framework of a broader coalition to form a government.

“We have our own vision and way, and they have their own path and vision. We made an agreement

that it is better to go our separate ways since we have difference approaches,” he said.

Abadi added that the Council of Ministers decided on the Agricultural Plan for 2018 and that the KRG has also been included in the plan.

Regarding security, he urged for more cooperation between intelligence agencies in the KRG and Iraq.

He added that they are cooperating with Peshmarga units in areas of demarcation line between Iraqi forces and Peshmarga forces because some ISIS members use these demarcation lines to move, but coordination needs to be under the authority of the federal government.

“We call on Erbil for greater cooperation,” Abadi said, adding that they have requested more information from the KRG regarding ISIS members detained within the Kurdistan Region.