Prime Minister: We will not stop fighting corruption

Baghdad - INA

Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi confirmed that the reform paper reduced dependence on oil to 70%, and while he indicated that the government continues to fight corruption, he indicated that the electrical connection with the Gulf countries will be completed in 2022.

Al-Kadhimi said in an exclusive interview on Al-Iraqiya News Channel (IMN) which was followed by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), today, Thursday: "The current government came after 17 years of chaos and corruption," noting that "the current government came to spare the blood of Iraqis."

He added, "We faced a year of challenges and attempts to obstruct reform," stressing that "there was tension that wanted to make Iraq an arena for conflict between countries."

He continued, "Tishreen revolution recorded more than 600 martyrs and thousands of wounded."

Prime Minister explained: "We chose to fulfill the demands of the demonstrators, the reference and the political forces, and focus on the elections. I also chose the path of containing everyone to bring the elections to a safe environment," stressing, "We have taken tough decisions and Iraq needs to rebuild the state."

"We want to reform the country," he said, adding that "the government's report was prepared by experts, including international ones."

Al-Kadhimi pointed out that "the elections are the demand of the people, the reference, the popular forces and the parties."

Also he indicated: "The electrical connection with the Gulf countries will be completed in 2022," noting that "the electricity file needs to be restructured and arranged again."

He continued, "We have a project to build 43 hospitals across the country."

Al-Al-Kadhimi confirmed: "We have executed more than 30,000 arrest warrants," noting that "
Regarding the white paper, the Prime Minister stated: "The reform paper reduced dependence on oil to 70%," noting that "many budget decisions have been changed in Parliament and are outside its powers."
He continued: "There is a major imbalance in the budget and we are waiting for the Federal Court for a decision to correct it," explaining that "the government's actions to support the poor after raising the exchange rate have been changed in Parliament."
Al-Kadhimi pointed out that "we do not need to enter into a civil war and lose much blood," stressing that "corruption and nepotism caused the fall of Mosul."

He continued, "The Anti-Corruption Commission has been mutilated, and we will not stop fighting corruption."
He pointed out that "the Basmaya project was stopped due to real problems, including the exaggerated premiums," noting that "giant companies will implement the Rafael project."

He added: "I do not have an electoral campaign to distribute papers without plots of land, and we have developed a plan in the Cabinet to distribute 500,000 plots of land," noting that "the targets of distributing plots of land are the families of the martyrs first, the poor segments, the security services, the Popular Mobilization Forces, the Counter-Terrorism Service, and journalists.".

He continued, "We will announce via a website to apply for land, and we will set the determinants of the eligible segments, and according to the points collected, the applicants will get a plot of land, some of which will be served by streets and other services," stressing, "I will personally follow the team responsible for distributing land and the team responsible for designing the website, It will be a different experience from the rest of the experiments, and we will announce its details with full transparency, and the distribution will include the whole of Iraq."

Regarding the elections file, the Prime Minister said: “There were attempts to drag the government into clashes with the aim of sabotaging the elections, but we chose the path of patience to miss the opportunity for those who aim to create chaos before the elections,” noting that “there are parties apprehensive about the elections and from this moment trying to question the elections.” The performance of the commission and the government and the results of the elections even before they are held.

He explained, "Electoral security depends on all the security services and the army, as well as the Iraqi judiciary. All of them will do their duty to protect the elections, and prevent the use of weapons and undisciplined groups that aim to intimidate the voters," adding: "We are separated from the elections within four months, and we will work to protect them and provide all the prerequisites for its success. 

He pointed out that "there are those who have promoted that the Prime Minister wants to stay until 2023 and remain in power, and for this we intended to send a serious message that our goal is to hold elections that we have set a date that restores the citizen's confidence in the entire political system, and we have confidence in all government procedures, the elections commission and there are international observers, and there will be an international evaluation of the elections."

On the relationship with Iran, Al-Kadhimi said: “We have long historical neighborly relations with Iran, and it is certainly in the interest of Iraq and Iran to search for commonalities and interests, and the policy of this government is to build good relations with everyone,” noting that “our relationship with the Iranian president Raisi is very good, and he has visited Iraq since for a while, there was a good and excellent meeting and exchanged views on the future of the relationship between Iraq and Iran, and I am keen to protect these relations and work to develop them."

He pointed out that "President Raisi invited us to visit Tehran, and we will look for an opportunity and a correct timing to meet this invitation," noting that "there are those who wish our relations with the countries of the world to fail, and these are not personal relations but for the interest of our country.

 Iraq has a significant role in stabilizing in the region".

Regarding the money that was disbursed to the region, Al-Kadhimi said: “The Kurdish people are our people, and what we paid is an advance for the purpose of paying the salaries of the region’s employees, it is unreasonable to remain without salaries, as it is not a budget, but an advance deducted through calculations after the Office of Financial Supervision’s inventory of all accounts ".