Iraq's 'Phantom' Electricity Deal Not So Ghostly?

And despite the millions spent by foreign aid and investment agencies, despite the game of musical chairs played by Iraq’s ministers of electricity, power supply does not appear to have improved at all. In fact, blaming former ministers of electricity, who usually leave Iraq immediately after they resign or are dismissed, has become common practice for the new ministers of electricity.

The chair has been occupied by three ministers in the recent past and all of them have either been accused (and even convicted) of corruption or, in Wahid’s case, resigned amid a growing onslaught of criticism.

The mudslinging in this case has already started. Shalal, previously a high ranking manager in the oil industry, is an independent MP and part of what is known as the ‘Solution’ political party. Solution is affiliated to the Sunni Muslim-backed Iraqiya bloc, which is led by former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayed Allawi, who is considered to be the main political rival of the current Prime Minister al-Maliki. And it was the opposition Iraqiya bloc that nominated him for the job of electricity minister.

The recent news has seen the Solution party crying foul, saying that they will take legal action and that their members will not be subject to a trial by media. They also believe that the calls for Shalal’s resignation may have been a premeditated and politically motivated decision, coming as it did two days after Friday demonstrations on the subject.

Of course, unfortunately none of this is new to Iraq. Although the need for a steady supply of electricity are urgent, nearly all of the deals made for the swift building of power plants and the reconstruction of a national grid seem to be in limbo, stuck in a bureaucratic, political or financial mire. And all the while, for the average Iraqi on the street, the summer of 2011 just keeps getting hotter.

(Source: NIQASH)