Challenges facing the KRG in 2020

It is heartening to see Kurdish political parties and leaders face recent crises in the Kurdistan Region with an aligned strategy and a perceived unity, but this should not disillusion us. Ongoing efforts to undermine political rivals remain central to the objectives of every political party, generally at the expense of development that would benefit the people of the region.

The assassination of Qasem Soleimani will not drastically alter the political landscape of the Middle East. We have seen over a decade of proxy wars, none of which involved the Kurds, and we will continue to see external powers interfering in Iraqi and Kurdish affairs. The internal issues facing the Kurdistan Region are vast, and cannot be ignored or pushed aside under the pretext of security concerns and regional instability.

Education

The education sector is becoming increasingly privatized, with high tuition fees that working class families cannot afford. Economic and educational inequality in the region is fueled from very early on; an increasing number of expensive private nurseries teach primarily in the English language and give students from wealthier families an advantage over those from working class and poor families. In general, the region’s public schools do not have the same standard of teaching as private schools, and public school teachers do not have access to necessary training or modern resources.

If the education sector continues to become the foundation of inequality in the region, we will create a vicious cycle where only those with access to 'high standard' education can excel in society and find jobs later on in life.

Gender inequality

While the Kurdistan Regional Government and politicians in the region espouse the rhetoric of equality and post sentimental content on their social networking sites, the reality for women paints a different picture. For example, working women do not have access to any provision such as childcare vouchers from the government. Additionally, the region does not have any government-funded nurseries for working parents.

In Erbil, the cost of childcare for three children amounts to $1800 per month at a private nursery with an acceptable standard of hygiene and care. The average salary of working women is nowhere near enough to pay this amount. In the United Kingdom, the current cost of childcare for two of my children to attend nursery on a full-time basis amounts to $3200 per month, but the average income for women in the UK is drastically higher than in Kurdistan. It surprises me that women's civil society groups and activists rarely mention the need for the government to regulate the price of nurseries and provide vouchers for working mothers.

Dysfunctional political system

The KRG and the parties within the region cling onto every incoming crisis that threatens the Middle East in a bid to distract from the reality of their own dysfunctional political arrangements. The challenges for the next decade are not strengthening security and diplomacy. The political parties need a clear strategy to ensure the region thrives. Politicians need to introduce concrete initiatives to reduce the inequality between an elitist ruling class that can afford to spend hundreds of dollars at fancy restaurants while poor and working class families struggle to pay for a shawarma in Iskan.

For a long time, we've seen an exaggerated amount of public relations effort go into the social media accounts of politicians, as though they think the new generation is naive enough to buy into a superficial image of professionalism that does not correspond to the realities people face outside of Erbil city.

Corruption

The KRG has launched an anti-corruption campaign that seems only to target civil servants who are on low wages to begin with, and ignores the corruption that exists in the business sector, and within political parties. Corruption cannot be eradicated simply by cutting through bureaucracy, because this presupposes that corruption only exists among low-level civil servants.

There is a ruling elitist class in Kurdistan that thrives off the region's wealth, and will continue enjoying the perks of nepotism for decades to come. If we are to take anti-corruption measures seriously, we must begin with complete transparency of the region's finances and the assets of those in office. Until then, cheap rhetoric without serious action will not convince people.

There's a long list of issues that the Kurdistan Region is struggling with internally, and if these issues are swept under the carpet because they are inconvenient truths for those in power, it won't be long before momentum builds towards radical change that the ruling class will not find pleasant.


Ruwayda Mustafah is a British-Kurdish law graduate with an interest in Kurdish politics and the role of gender in governance. She holds a master’s degree in political communication, advocacy and campaigning, and she is a PhD candidate in politics at Kingston University London.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rudaw.