Politics
17:16, 29-Jul-2018
Iraqi PM sacks electricity minister after weeks of protest
Updated
16:56, 01-Aug-2018
["china"]
Share
Copied
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday suspended the minister of electricity over the deterioration in power supply amid protests against lack of jobs and basic services.
A brief statement by Abadi's office said that Qasim al-Fahdawi has been suspended by Abadi "until the end of the investigation" into the reasons behind the deterioration of the power supply.
The suspension came after about two weeks of demonstrations in many cities in Iraq's central and southern provinces despite a series of measures taken by Abadi aimed at quelling the street anger.
A protester holds a picture of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with "Step Down" written on it during a protest at Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq July 27, 2018. /VCG Photo
A protester holds a picture of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi with "Step Down" written on it during a protest at Tahrir square in Baghdad, Iraq July 27, 2018. /VCG Photo
Read more:
The measures included allocating 3.5 trillion Iraqi dinars (about 2.9 billion US dollars) to carry out several major projects for public services, such as electricity and water facilities, in addition to providing thousands of jobs in the government institutions.
Meanwhile, Abadi, also the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi forces, issued an order of high alert for the security forces in the central and southern provinces in response to the protests.
The demonstrators accused the influential political parties of being behind the widespread corruption that led to high rates of unemployment and failure in the rehabilitation of the country's electricity, water and other basic services.
Source(s): Xinhua News Agency