Kurdistan plans to disband several cabinet ministries

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is seeking to decrease the number of ministries to almost half its present number in an attempt to reduce expenses and improve services. Currently, the Kurdistan Region has 19 ministries with several departments and commissions.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) is seeking to decrease the number of ministries to almost half its present number in an attempt to reduce expenses and improve services. Currently, the Kurdistan Region has 19 ministries with several departments and commissions.

Minister of Education Pshtiwan Sadiq believes that the case should be studied well before finalized because it might have unforeseen consequences.

“This decision should be made by those who are above us. It is not us as ministers or the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) to make such decision alone,” Sadiq told Kurdistan 24 on Friday.

“All parties should take part in making such a decision, and the decision should be discussed and made in [the Kurdistan Region] parliament.”

He mentioned that improving services to people should be the most important factor, rather than focusing unduly on the number of ministries and noted that decreasing the number of ministries might not necessarily have the desired effect.

Combining some ministries and commissions whose works and fields are related to each other is part of the plan. So far, no parties in the Kurdistan Region have opposed the idea.

Aydin Marouf, a Turkmen lawmaker in the Kurdistan Parliament, stated that the decrease of the ministries would save considerable revenue.

“We agree on the idea of reducing the number of ministries to 11 or 12. It is essential to make such a decision and implement it now because the Kurdistan Region continues to suffer from the economic crisis,” Marouf told Kurdistan 24 on Friday.

“It will alleviate that crisis. This decision needs to be made by agreement among the parties in the parliament.”

The Kurdistan Region has a population of almost six million people, and the KRG currently has 749,772 public servants.

Leadership member of the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) party Said Ahmed Penjweni believes having so many ministries in the Kurdistan Region is unnecessary.

“It will be good to combine some ministries and have some technocrat and non-partisan people to run the positions,” Penjweni told Kurdistan 24.

Since 2014, the Kurdistan Region has been experiencing a critical financial crisis which Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani has linked to the fight against the Islamic State (IS), a resulting influx of almost two million refugees and internally displaced people to the Kurdistan Region, an international drop in oil prices, and the halting of the national budget of the Kurdistan Region by the federal government of Iraq.

Editing by John J. Catherine

(Additional reporting by Blessa Shawesi)