Weights a cabinet reshuffle on the first day of the Kazemi government

[size=52]Weights a cabinet reshuffle on the first day of the Kazemi government[/size]

[size=45]Baghdad / Tamim Al-Hassan[/size]
[size=45]Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi is likely to head for a cabinet reshuffle soon, while the list of expected replacements will reach more than 5 ministers. The Omar al-Kazimi government, which includes 22 ministers, is approaching its first year, while its program does not contain a time limit for reviewing the performance of ministers. A group of criticisms that Al-Kazemi faces, the latest of which is the Ibn al-Khatib Hospital fire and the devaluation of the local currency, are pushing the government to reassess.[/size]
[size=45]According to political sources who spoke to Al-Mada, the list of ministers being evaluated includes "8 ministers, and they are: the Minister of Finance, Health, Trade, Oil, Agriculture, Electricity, Industry, and Transport."[/size]
[size=45]Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi revealed, on Tuesday, that he is conducting an evaluation of the performance of ministers and officials in state institutions, pledging to take "difficult" decisions to correct the situation.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kazemi said during the regular cabinet session, according to a government statement: “We have evaluations of ministers and officials, and we will take difficult decisions. Our goal is to serve our people and correct the situation, to reach fair early elections.”[/size]
[size=45]The target list[/size]
[size=45]Most of the estimates go that the most targeted ministers in the supposed list of changes are "Finance Minister Ali Allawi, Industry Manhal Al-Khabaz, Electricity Majed Hantoush, and Health Hasan Al-Tamimi, against the backdrop of the Ibn Al-Khatib accident." But on the other hand, the sources say, the Finance Minister is considered one of the most important members of the Al-Kazemi government, and those sources confirm that “Al-Kazemi decided to withdraw the hand of the Minister of Health due to threats from Allawi that he would resign if he did not hold Al-Tamimi accountable.” The fire in Ibn Al-Khatib Governmental Hospital, southeast of the capital, killed and wounded about 200 people, while the government was awaiting the results of a detailed investigation into the accident. On the other hand, the Minister of Finance had threatened, since assuming the position last year, more than once to resign, the last of which was a few months ago against the background of a quarrel with the head of the Finance Committee in Parliament, Haitham al-Jubouri.[/size]
[size=45]Allawi, who is more than 70 years old, is exposed to severe criticism against the background of raising the price of the dollar and his demand to impose taxes on employee salaries.[/size]
[size=45]The sources indicate that in the event of a cabinet reshuffle, "Al-Kazemi will assign others from his proxy cabinet until the elections are held next October."[/size]
[size=45]During the last cabinet session, Al-Kazemi called on the ministers to "go to their departments and start field work to follow up the citizens' requirements, solve problems and facilitate procedures, as well as review safety procedures in all buildings." In the government statement, he indicated that "the ministers must remember that they came for service reasons to serve our people, and not for political goals, before contemplating running for the elections, and they should not exploit their ministries for the elections."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kazemi stressed, "I will not allow ministerial sites to become electoral machines, and I categorically reject any exploitation of the state's capabilities by the candidates. The current government is a government of services and does not seek electoral competition to achieve political goals. It has set its sights on serving the citizen first and foremost."[/size]
[size=45]Regarding the fire of Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital, which is designated for Corona patients in Baghdad, Al-Kazemi confirmed, "The members of the investigation team in the Ibn Al-Khatib Hospital accident are working around the clock with personal follow-up from me, and we are awaiting their report at the date we have set, and we will fully approve its results."[/size]
[size=45]The Prime Minister called on the Ministry of the Interior to "deal firmly and in accordance with the law with those who offend internal security in Iraq and endanger the lives of citizens."[/size]
[size=45]Abu Ragheef Committee[/size]
[size=45]Meanwhile, Yonadam Kanna, head of the Rafidain bloc in Parliament, believes that the prime minister's speech came after a series of arrests of officials within the so-called "Abu Ragheef Committee" to combat corruption. Kanna told Al-Mada that "after the arrest of the head of corruption, businessman Bahaa Al-Jourani, many personalities will fall."[/size]
[size=45]The deputy does not rule out that ministers were among those who were recognized by Al-Jourani, adding that "there is a lot of information that was leaked after the latter's arrest."[/size]
[size=45]The Integrity Commission recently announced that it had issued 58 arrest warrants against officials, which included “two members of Parliament (current and former), a former minister, and a former undersecretary.”[/size]
[size=45]Parliament had also demanded that several ministers and officials be questioned, most notably the Minister of Finance, Trade, Agriculture, Electricity, and Industry, in addition to the governor of the Central Bank, the head of the Media Commission, and the head of the Shiite Endowment.[/size]
[size=45]But Yonadam used to say that "the file of the interrogations is now stored in Parliament due to the month of Ramadan and the spread of the Corona epidemic."[/size]
[size=45]The leaks had spoken a few months ago about the Prime Minister’s “anger” at the performance of Minister of Industry Manhal Al-Khabaz, prompting the latter’s bloc to reveal that the baker was being “intimidated” by the head of Al-Kazemi's office, Raed Jouhi, and demanded that he be suspended from work. A book issued by Juhi, addressed to the office of a minister, which was later found to be the Minister of Industry, in which he indicated that the minister did not implement many of the orders and directives issued by the Prime Minister, reminding the minister of the possibility of his dismissal.[/size]
[size=45]Move late[/size]
[size=45]Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani, a member of the Parliament’s Committee to Monitor the Government’s Program, considered Al-Kazemi's conclusions about his ministers to be somewhat late.[/size]
[size=45]Al-Sudani told Al-Mada that, "Several months ago, we submitted a report to the committee, which confirmed that the government’s implementation rate for its program is 17%."[/size]
[size=45]Al-Kazemi's program, with its five main axes, unlike his predecessor Abdul Mahdi and former prime minister candidates, Muhammad Allawi and Adnan Al-Zorfi, did not include setting a time period to review the performance of his ministers. Al-Sudani points out that "widespread criticism of the government’s performance and some ministers is what motivated the prime minister to speak about this issue publicly within the cabinet." In May 2020, Al-Kazemi presented 22 ministers to Parliament, pledging then to hold early elections and eradicate corruption.[/size]
[size=45]Scare the ministers[/size]
[size=45]Abbas Al-Atafi, a member of the Parliament's Services Committee, said, "The prime minister is not sincere about changing failed ministers." Al-Atafi added in connection with (Al-Mada): "If Al-Kazemi's intentions were real, he would have replaced the ministers several months ago after Parliament reported a major defect in the performance of the government."[/size]
[size=45]The deputy considered that Al-Kazemi's recent speech is "to intimidate the ministers by making everyone believe that he is the target of the ministerial change."[/size]
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