Shafaq News / Al-Sulaymaniah’s Governor Haval Abu Bakr, on Tuesday, urged employees in the health and education sectors to continue their humanitarian work, emphasizing its impact on human development and health. Simultaneously, he called upon both central and regional governments to grant employees their legitimate rights and steer clear of conflicts.
Abu Bakr stated, "We hope that in the new year, all our internal issues will be resolved with Baghdad, which can only be achieved through unity and a sense of national responsibility by everyone."
He added, "The region, in general, is going through frightening and unclear circumstances, requiring governmental and party leaders in the Region to exercise caution and avoid entrenching themselves with any specific faction, as it will have negative repercussions on the Region's reality."
Abu Bakr highlighted, "What the Region has achieved in the past periods under dire circumstances was due to concerted efforts and collective work. Despite the harsh conditions Kurdistan has faced since the 1990s until now, employees' salaries were paid and appointments were made according to regulations. But now, all that is lost, and it is essential to reassess everyone's work for the greater good of the Region and its people."
He pointed out, "Baghdad wants to pressure the Regional Government (KRG), seeking to control all its revenues, while the Region, in return, pressures Baghdad to transfer employees' salaries based on the budget. All these attempts by both sides are causing delays in disbursing employees' salaries, proving to be fruitless and challenging."
Al-Sulaymaniyah Governor emphasized that he proposed "solutions more than six months ago to alleviate the severity of the current crisis through decisions that the Region can take. These include reinstating salary raises and professional allowances by a decision of the Regional cabinet, appointing some lecturers as per the Ministry of Education's needs, and adding all debts owed by KRG from the salary-saving decision to each employee's bank account to enable them to pay bills and ease their burden."
He highlighted that "the operational budget for al-Sulaymaniyah monthly does not exceed 35 million dinars and is sometimes only disbursed every three months, insufficient even for very basic necessities. Meanwhile, some parties can spend substantial amounts on managing their headquarters and needs. This requires influential entities to relinquish control over the region's revenues and hand them over to the government for distribution among the people."
Abu Bakr urged employees in the health and education sectors to "continue their humanitarian work to the best of their ability due to its impact on human development and health, while strongly emphasizing the necessity for all their legitimate demands to be met, which everyone acknowledges and supports."