TNT:
Tishwash: Al-Sudani issues a package of decisions affecting high-ranking positions in Iraq
The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Shia’a al-Sudani, announced the withdrawal of the protections of former presidents and ministers who assumed their duties after 2003.
The decision also included canceling the allocations for the three presidencies for President Abdel Latif Rashid and Speaker of Parliament Muhammad al-Halbousi, in addition to al-Sudani himself.
He also withdrew protections from the former presidents of the republic, Fuad Masum and Barham Salih, and the protections of former prime ministers Iyad Allawi, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Nuri al-Maliki, Haider al-Abadi, Adel Abdul-Mahdi and Mustafa al-Kazemi.
These decisions, which seemed shocking to senior Iraqi officials, come in an attempt by the prime minister to restructure state institutions and pressure government spending.
As is the norm in post-2003 Iraq, former senior officials usually maintain several government protection regiments, even years after leaving office.
The Prime Minister’s decisions also included the deduction of two and a half million dinars from the salaries of members of his government, and the reduction of exaggerated government spending in Iraq.
According to the decisions, the Iraqi Prime Minister canceled the allocations for hospitality, treatment, and renting private planes for the three presidencies, including his office.
Earlier, Al-Sudani decided to cancel 20 Iraqi embassies abroad due to the lack of Iraqi expatriates there, in addition to the huge funds allocated from the annual budget for them and their diplomatic staff.
During the past week, the force assigned to protect the former Prime Minister, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, numbering about 100, received orders to withdraw and leave its location near his house in the Green Zone.
Muhammad Shia al-Sudani assumed the position of prime minister on the 27th of last October, after the Iraqi parliament approved, by an absolute majority, his cabinet. link
