BAGHDAD: Iraq’s leader has sued Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani over unpaid wages for civil servants in the autonomous region of Kurdistan, bringing into emphasis a gap in the government’s authority.
President Abdul Latif Rashid, a Kurd, filed the lawsuit against Sudani and Finance Minister Taif Sami past fortnight, but his assistant, Hawri Tawfiq, merely announced it on Sunday.
The event, submitted to Iraq’s best judge, seeks an order to ensure salaries are paid “without delay” despite ongoing monetary disputes between Baghdad and Arbil, the provincial capital.
Iraq’s public business is wracked with incompetence and corruption, and experts say Sudani and Rashid had much had conflicts.
Public sector staff received their January paychecks, but they are also waiting for their December paychecks.
Tawfiq said the complaint was just disclosed now because of demonstrations over missed payment in Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan’s second-largest area and the mayor’s home.
The assistant eventually claimed that Rashid “values” the attempts made by the Sudanese government to handle financial issues and that the complaint sought” a suitable and legal answer.”
Tawfiq emphasized that the president supported the regional administration in finding solutions and the federal government and that he was” never opposed to any legal power” in Iraq.
Nechirvan Barzani, the local president of Kurdistan, thanked Sudani for his assistance with money-related issues, including salaries.
On Sunday, hundreds of people from Sulaimaniyah attempted to rally in Arbil, but officers used tear gas to separate them, local media reported.
Some have staged a sit-in for two weeks in Sulaimaniyah, with 13 teachers resorting to a poverty attack.
Workers in Sulaimaniyah have long demanded that the federal government protect the public sector wages in Kurdistan, which the country’s top prosecutor ordered next year.
However, according to authorities, payments have been uneven as a result of technological problems.
Ihssan al-Shemmari, a social scientist, said the complaint highlights Rashid’s growing conflict with Sudani.
” We are facing a major department within the administrative power, and it is now happening openly”, said Shemmari.
In January, Sudani ordered a probe into Rashid’s father’s business, IQ Internet Services.
MP Hanan al-Fatlawi addressed Rashid on X, saying:” The charges on your father’s business IQ… are enough to give the pay” in Kurdistan.
