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BAGHDAD: Iraq’s prime minister publicly bickered with ministers in a televised meeting about the country’s poor public services that have sparked street protests and increased pressure on his shaky coalition government.
State-run television showed footage on Tuesday and Wednesday of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki discussing the country’s chronic power shortages and other problems with ministers in an apparent bid to show the government was tackling the issues.
The broadcasts were unlikely to reassure citizens of the war-battered oil producer who have mounted protests against a range of public ills, including power blackouts, food ration shortages, corruption and security threats.
In the televised cabinet session, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal complained that his ministry had not received funds for multimillion-dollar generation projects. “We have a big problem in financing,” said Shallal, a member of the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc in the ruling coalition that has been critical of the Maliki government’s Shi’ite leadership.
At one point, an apparently irritated Maliki told Shallal: “We’ve always given you money before when you asked for it.” There has been increasing pressure on Maliki’s shaky national unity coalition, which brings together representatives of the country’s Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish groups, to deliver solutions as a 100-day deadline set by the premier for improved government performance expired this week.
Despite upbeat government reports of steadily rising oil output, exports and revenues, the lack of daily reliable power supply is one of Iraqis’ biggest complaints as they struggle to restore some normality to their lives more than eight years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told the cabinet meeting higher oil prices had helped Iraq earn an extra $8.7 billion, 34 percent more than budgeted, in the first five months of the year.
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State-run television showed footage on Tuesday and Wednesday of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki discussing the country’s chronic power shortages and other problems with ministers in an apparent bid to show the government was tackling the issues.
The broadcasts were unlikely to reassure citizens of the war-battered oil producer who have mounted protests against a range of public ills, including power blackouts, food ration shortages, corruption and security threats.
In the televised cabinet session, Electricity Minister Raad Shallal complained that his ministry had not received funds for multimillion-dollar generation projects. “We have a big problem in financing,” said Shallal, a member of the Sunni-dominated Iraqiya bloc in the ruling coalition that has been critical of the Maliki government’s Shi’ite leadership.
At one point, an apparently irritated Maliki told Shallal: “We’ve always given you money before when you asked for it.” There has been increasing pressure on Maliki’s shaky national unity coalition, which brings together representatives of the country’s Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish groups, to deliver solutions as a 100-day deadline set by the premier for improved government performance expired this week.
Despite upbeat government reports of steadily rising oil output, exports and revenues, the lack of daily reliable power supply is one of Iraqis’ biggest complaints as they struggle to restore some normality to their lives more than eight years after the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Deputy Prime Minister Hussain al-Shahristani told the cabinet meeting higher oil prices had helped Iraq earn an extra $8.7 billion, 34 percent more than budgeted, in the first five months of the year.
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