Questioning ministers delayed, but step toward democracy – citizens

BAGHDAD, ARBIL, BASRA / IraqiNews.com: A number of citizens described the Parliament’s invitation to some ministers to question them inside the Parliament as an important step on the road toward the establishment of the democracy in Iraq and activating the parliament’s role in exercising its supervising role. “I believe it’s the first time for us to see a minister being questioned, and it’s a good step toward the establishment of the right democracy in Iraq,” Reda Ameen, an employee from Arbil, told IraqiNews.com news agency. “We want to see other ministers being questions in order to set up a state based on integrity,” he added. The Parliament held two regular sessions on Sunday (May 17) to question Trade Minister Abdulfalah al-Sudani on charges of financial and administrative corruption. Lawmakers told IraqiNews.com that charges against the trade minister, presented by the head of the integrity commission, Sabah al-Saadi, concern the waste of the public money and financial and administrative corruption charges. Karwan Ali, a citizen from Arbil, described questioning the minister as an important step, underlining that questioning one minister will positively affect other ministers and will make them improve their ministries’ performance. Independent legislator Hussein al-Falluji on Sunday said (May 17) that the Parliament’s questioning of Trade Minister Abdulfalah al-Sudani will set a precedent for the accountability of ministers and state officials. “The no-confidence vote over the trade minister has to do with the parliament’s content about charges raised over Sudani and the evidence he and lawmaker Sabah al-Saadi will produce,” Falluji told IraqiNews.com news agency. “If Sudani’s replies were not convincing enough for the members of parliament, a no-confidence vote will be held over him,” he added. “Questioning the trade minister is a delayed step,” Dr. Hamed al-Dhalemi, former member of the Basra council, told IraqiNews.com news agency, noting that they knew these violations in the ministry and the evidences presented by MP al-Saadi. “We in Basra have spoken about that four years ago and all kinds of corruption made by the Trade Ministry,” he underlined. For his part, Ali Abdul Hussein, a 38-year-old lawmaker, said that “I’m not happy with such acts even if some believe they are good steps toward democracy.” “I consider them as black comedy plays,” he said. “There have been many accusations against the trade minister from quite some time, and nothing happened; the ration cards system is very poor, and corruption sickens me.” “Corruption does not differ from terrorism. Both of them hurt Iraq and Iraqis, so we demand lawmakers not to be easy with those considered corrupt,” Ismail al-Shemri, 58, from al-Kadhimiya in northern Baghdad, said. “Questioning ministers should lead to a result and to deterrant measures,” he added. SH (I)/SR 3