Al-Kazemi uses anti-terrorist forces to end internal corruption

Mustafa al-Kazemi, Prime Minister of Iraq, has announced the formation of a permanent Human Rights Committee to investigate cases of internal corruption surrounding the Administration.

To this end, he has assigned the task to the Counter-Terrorism Agency, which will implement the measures issued by the committee headed by Ahmed Abu Ragheef, general and head of internal affairs at the Ministry of Interior for the past ten years. 

This agency will be composed of three members of the Iraqi Intelligence Services, Security and National Integrity. The Prime Minister, during the meeting with the newly created committee, has insisted on "the need to restore the prestige of the State and impose a rule of law". 

According to the latest index of the Organization for Transparency International, Iraq is among the countries with the greatest corruption in the public sector in position 168. Al-Kazemi denounces that these indexes have increased during the last years to the point that the waste of public money and money laundering have caused the bankruptcy of the annual budget.

This bankruptcy, in turn, has paralyzed internal and external loans that finance the salaries of public officials in government institutions. This situation complicates the already agitated social climate of the country.

It should be recalled that the Prime Minister has been in office since last May, five months after the resignation of Adel Abdel Mahdi. Since the beginning of his term, he has delivered several anti-corruption messages in his speech and has accused previous governments of creating high insecurity and allowing the proliferation of weapons in the country. ​​​​​​​

The challenge is to put an end to the phenomenon of uncontrolled weapons and tribal conflicts, as they have become "a real danger to society and threaten its members, as well as hindering the country's reconstruction and development efforts," insists Al-Kazemi.

International observers believe that the decision will serve to put an end to the robbery and looting militias that have wreaked havoc on the country for 18 years. Likewise, the president emphasizes the importance of activating the Intelligence Services to restore the citizens' trust.

The interim government of Al-Kazemi faces great challenges until the early elections of 2021, including the economic crisis after the fall of oil prices, the new coronavirus pandemic, and the presence of terrorism that continues to threaten the security of the country.