Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party (PUK) caucus chair Jamal Hawez Mustafa (Jamal Haruty) 2019. Photo: Screengrab NRT TV
SULAIMANI, Iraq’s Kurdistan region,— Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party (PUK) caucus chair Jamal Hawez said on Tuesday that the statements from the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) spokesperson Jutyar Adil have no basis in fact and that the PUK is not responsible for gas shortages in Erbil and Duhok.
Last Sunday, KRG spokesperson Adil and the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) caucus in the Kurdistan Parliament alleged that “mafias” and “powerful figures” in Sulaimani and Garmian were preventing the distribution of gas by force.
“The gas crisis happened because of the company that got the tender for gas distribution in [Iraqi] Kurdistan Region,” Hawez said, saying that places in Sulaimani and Raparin were also experiencing shortages.
“The gas crisis has nothing to do with the PUK. Those who want to blame the crisis on parties, but they themselves can’t provide services for the population. The distribution of gas is the government’s responsibility, not that of a political party,” he added.
Shortages of propane gas in Erbil and Duhok governorates have caused the price of gas to double. Propane is widely used in the Kurdistan Region for heating and cooking.
The government recently switched gas suppliers, as a part of reforming its contracting procedures to one that sought competitive tenders.
Senior Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) official Mahmoud Sangawi also defended his party, whose power base in Sulaimani, against the allegations by launching his own accusation that the disruption was the result of corruption by people along the supply chain between the gas fields in Khor Mor and end users.
“Those cases are not related to Sangawi [and the PUK] whatsoever,” his office said in a statement.
“According to our information, what happened was that some people in the area prevented the operation because they were against corruption of a company that belongs to a certain party,” the statement added, implying that the KDP was part of the problem.
Iraqi Kurdistan is not unified region, it is divided politically and geographically between the KDP led by Massoud Barzani and PUK led by the Talabani’s clan.
Iraqi Kurdistan still suffers from electric power and gas deficiency 29 years of semi autonomy and Kurdish self-ruling.
The two ruling families of Barzani and Talabani have been routinely accused by critics of amassing huge wealth from oil business for their clans instead of serving the population.
For many years, transparency organizations, lawmakers, observers, and international organizations have accused senior Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government KRG officials of corruption, especially with regard to expropriation of the Kurdistan’s oil income.
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