Shafaq News / The Teachers and Employees' Rights Defense Commission in the Kurdistan Region (KRI) announced on Saturday that it has gathered over 60,000 signatures to transfer the salaries of KRI's employees to the federal government. This move was reportedly influenced by "encouragement" from Qais al-Khazali, the Secretary-General of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, along with other officials.
Dilshad Mirani, the commission's representative, revealed that "last Tuesday, commission members met with al-Khazali and various Iraqi officials in Baghdad to address the salary crisis affecting KRI's employees." During the meeting, an agreement was reached to collect signatures from KRI's employees with the aim of urging the Iraqi government to directly manage employee salaries, using the "Mastercard" system.
Mirani emphasized that "to date, 61,000 signatures have been collected from all of KRI's governorates, and it is anticipated that this number will reach 200,000 signatures within the week. These signatures will be submitted to the Financial Committee in the Iraqi Parliament."
He called on all teachers and employees to "actively participate in this signature campaign to help resolve the long-standing issue of delayed employee salaries."
In a related development, a political source reported on September 17, 2023, that the federal cabinet approved financial support for the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to cover employee salaries for the past three months. Additionally, KRI's Prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, announced an agreement with the federal government, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani, to ensure the timely payment of citizen salaries.
Article 13 of the budget mandates that KRI must deliver no less than 400,000 barrels of crude oil daily to the State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) for export through the Ceyhan port, or for domestic use in cases where export is not feasible.
The issue of KRI's oil revenues and its non-oil income has remained a contentious matter for several years with no resolution in sight. In recent years, Baghdad has adopted a new mechanism involving financial loans to cover employee salaries, which are frequently delayed for months, to disburse the region's dues in the budget.