Sayyed Ahmad Al-Safi
My brothers, my sisters…
I bring to your attention the following matters:-
The need for urgent and necessary reform in various state agencies and institutions is understood and recognised by everyone; for everyone knows and acknowledges that many problems faced by our people and our country are primarily ones as a result of the worsening corruption reality for more than a decade, and one cannot bypass these problems and alleviate the suffering of the citizens but only through genuine and broad reform in all fields, and in this regard we refer to several things:
First Matter:
The first thing is that it is not enough that officials in adjust with our calls for reform and rhetorically support them solely for the media, rather it is essential that official each work from their rank and position of responsibility to work hard and contribute effectively in the reform process with actual results. It is certain that any official, whatever his position and legal powers, is not able to achieve the required reforms alone, but essentially to cooperate with others in the various authorities. It is therefore essential that all and together take hand in hand to accomplish this great task, and for all to be aware this is a collective responsibility but primarily those in the positions of power bear full responsibility.
Second matter:
One of the main manifestations of corruption in the country is the proliferation of those who gathered wealth at the expense of the people, divesting public money by twisted and illegal methods and taking advantage of their positions and their connections to achieve their interests. An essential step in the reform process is to begin prosecuting and holding accountable the main corruptive individuals, and retrieve all looted public funds in their hands. This is above all the responsibility of the Integrity Commission and the judiciary. Many wonder are they up to and able toward their responsibilities? And will they act without further delay and procrastination?
The generous Iraqi people, who have long suffered and continue to suffer from corruption, increased year after year, await steps to accelerate the reform and have a real practical effect to the essence to the demands and for reforms to be comprehensive to include all state institutions, clearing it all of this grinding plague.
Third matter:
The weakness of economic planning and lack of an integrated strategy to provide financial resources for the country, including oil prices as another aspect of corruption. Our country suffers from lack of investment in its resources and numerous potentials other than oil potentials efficiently, for instead of revitalising the agricultural and industrial sectors, and provide job opportunities for young people in these two important fields, we find that there are continuous rises in the employment in the number of employees in government departments without effective and a real need for many of them. It necessary for officials to exert efforts in the revitalisation of the agricultural sector because of its importance in securing national nutrition, in addition to providing job opportunities, thus they must provide all possible means that would promote and elevate the sector.
If the government wanted to treat one side of the economic problems of the country, then the promotion of agriculture, paying attention to farms and farmers’ needs and overcoming the obstacles they face is a must.
The industrial sector, my dears, also suffers from neglect, to a large extent. There are hundreds of state-owned factories inactivated followed by tens of thousands of unemployed workers who are demanding their overdue salaries. Essentially, suitable plans must be drawn for the development of potentially working and fit factories among the rest, to recover and expand the industrial sector in general, by developing and establishing new factories. Additionally, protecting national products to compete with international products and rely on local industries as well as improving and rooting out corruption.
We have said in the past and today we reiterate once again that the eradication of corruption requires patience and persistence, but it is necessary to speed up and take real steps in these issues. These steps must be convincing to the people and reassure them that officials are serious about reform and seek to do what is necessary in order to achieve them.
We ask Allah The Almighty to make our country a secure one, we ask Him to rid us of ISIS terrorists, from oppressors and the cleanse our country of corruption and the corrupt thieves of public money.
