Iraq is slipping back into its previous sectarian style of governance as the reforms promoted by Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi have not been implemented. When he took office, Al Abadi promised to build a government that would be more inclusive and also to tackle the deep corruption that combines with patronage politics to cripple much of Iraq’s government machinery. But he has made little progress on both fronts and the continuing success of Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) has further derailed his modest momentum for reform.
This week, supporters of former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki took advantage of the government’s lack of action to get a vote through parliament, which barred Al Abadi from passing important reforms in a new attack on his authority.
This successful attempt to halt any reform and stop any attack on corruption is a blow to Al Abadi’s crumbling authority in the remaining parts of Iraq that his government controls.
Al Abadi had wanted to restrict the power of many senior political offices that have become a vehicle for patronage, but have led to a failure of governance in the civil authorities and combat incompetence in the army, which seriously undermined the fight against Daesh.
The problem is that Al Abadi talked of worthy aims, but did little to implement them before his opponents gathered the strength for their current attack.
If Iraq is to recover and rebuild its national institutions, it needs a consensus builder who will heal the deep divisions between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds that gravely increased during Al Maliki’s tenure as prime minister when he followed a more blatantly pro-Iranian line and favoured Shiite groups, giving them a place in the government structure. This one-sided approach is why many Sunnis in the west of Iraq were suspicious of the government and unwilling to trust its promises. If Iraq is to be rebuilt, the government has to prove that the suspicion is unfounded.
