As critics have already argued, the Federal Public Service Council is supposed to be independent and not based on any quota system. The fact that its membership is, indicates that Iraq's current political parties and blocs, which are also based on a quota system, will have undue influence on the Council. Similar situations have occurred at a number of allegedly independent bodies, such as the Independent High Electoral Council and the Iraqi Central Bank and the quota principle has often meant that a supposedly independent institution is hamstrung.
It should be interesting to see if the Council can be formed in this way. Whether they're right or not, many ordinary Iraqis perceive such an organisation to be incredibly important and there may be public pressure on this issue. The number of unemployed in Iraq is huge and rising – many see government employment as their only possibility for a job. Those individuals are doubtless holding out high hopes for the Federal Public Service Council.
“The Council could also prevent Iraq's brain drain, which has seen efficient, qualified Iraqis leave the country because they just cant get a job here,” Kurdish MP Mohsen al-Sadoun, a member of the parliamentary legal committee, told NIQASH.
It is important to manage the process of recruitment carefully and in a way that doesn't reflect political, ethnic or sectarian conflicts in the country, says Bassem Jamil Anton, a local economist. The focus should be on integrity and experience. If this could be achieved, Anton says, it would reflect positively on the national economy.
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