ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Concerns are on the rise among citizens and members of Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) over lack of transparency in the administration’s expenditures, with Kirkuk receiving a larger budget from Baghdad than previous years.
Kirkuk has recently received IQD 63 billion (about $53 million) from Baghdad as part of its petrodollar budget. The local administration is also expected to receive an additional IQD 436 billion (over $366 million) as the province’s budget share from the federal government of Iraq.
Since the attack and military takeover of Kirkuk by Iraqi forces and Shia militias on Oct. 16, 2017, Rakan al-Jabouri, a Sunni Arab, has been acting as the governor of the province. Baghdad had ousted then-governor Najmaldin Karim, a popular figure across all groups in the diverse province, in the wake of the Kurdistan Region’s referendum on independence which was also held in the disputed territory.
Since then, half of the KPC’s members, including the head, Rebwar Talabani, have fled to the autonomous Kurdistan Region, with the KPC failing to convene for lack of quorum. As a result, the KPC has been unable to monitor the financial expenditures of the Governo’s office or issue any budgetary decisions.
Kirkuk is a disputed territory claimed by both the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the federal government of Iraq. Its population is made of Arabs, Turkmen, and Christians with a Kurdish majority.
Kurds complain that the predominantly Kurdish inhabited neighborhoods in Kirkuk have been ignored in terms of public services since the new administration took over in 2017.
“This is really unfair,” Fayeq Qadir, a Kurdish resident in Kirkuk told Kurdistan 24, complaining about lack of services in his neighborhood.
“Don’t even talk about trash-collection. It takes a month or more to send a truck to gather garbage… Nobody knows where the money of this province goes.”