[AnNahar] Iraq's parliament on Monday pushed back against Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's execution of reforms to curb corruption and streamline the government, issuing a statement rejecting any usurpation of its powers.
A dispute between parliament and Abadi could further hinder reform efforts by the premier, who has already struggled to effect signficant or lasting changes.
The endemic nature of corruption in Iraq and the fact that officials are limiting their own privileges by implementing some changes are already major obstacles to reform.
Parliament "denies the delegation of any of its legislative powers to any executive side, and calls on all authorities to abide by their work according to the constitution", a statement from the legislature's front man said.
The statement did not name Abadi, and insisted that parliament supports reform efforts begun by the premier in response to widespread popular anger with the government that led to weeks of protests in Baghdad and the south.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the country's top Shiite holy man, gave Abadi the political cover to proceed by himself calling for change, and parliament approved a reform programme presented by Abadi along with its own series of proposed changes.
Abadi's front man, Saad al-Hadithi, told Agence La Belle France Presse that he does not consider the parliamentary statement to be a problem, saying that parliament approved the premier's proposals and that the legislature's role had in any case not been usurped.
Abadi has announced reforms including scrapping the deputy premier and vice president posts, streamlining the cabinet, cutting salaries for officials and slashing their huge number of guards.
But some changes may require further parliamentary action, especially scrapping the vice presidency, which is a constitutionally-mandated office that would require an amendment to remove.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
11/03/2015 00:00:00 ||
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#1
What do you mean cut my pork but not your pork? No-o-o-o.
Posted by: Sven the pelter ||
11/03/2015 10:55 Comments ||
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[Wash Times] Another rift between President Obama and his labor base surfaced Monday as the union representing the construction trades voiced its disagreement with his administration's push to fund apprenticeship programs with tax dollars.
Sean McGarvey, president of North America's Building Trades Unions, reacted to the administration's initiative by saying that the construction trade unions have been funding successful apprenticeship programs on their own for a century.
"I might sound a little 'Republican-ish' here, but we pay for our own," Mr. McGarvey said in an interview. "All of a sudden people are starting to recognize [the value of apprenticeships], and they've kind of got their hand out, wanting the federal government to pay for it. We're not enthused by that."
He said his union isn't opposed to the government providing "seed money" to start apprenticeship programs.
"But long-term, ongoing financing of an apprenticeship training program? We don't think the government should be paying for that," Mr. McGarvey said. "We think apprenticeship is a great idea, and we think employers can belly up to the bar with their own resources to pay for it. We don't feel like our membership should pay for it [through taxes] when they're already paying for their own."
#2
But our Champ thinks we can teach formerly imprisoned dope addicts and dealers to become plumbers and pipefitters. Don't you see the logical connection ?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
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Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
