The budget allocated for Kirkuk in 2019 is over 430 billion dinars ($361.3 million). Service projects include electricity, water, building some silos, schools and hospitals as well as roads.
Of this amount, 106 billion dinars ($89.1 million) is allocated for the reconstruction of neighborhoods in Kirkuk. The budget’s spending bill spend this budget was signed by 23 provincial council members — 11 Kurds, 6 Arabs and 6 Turkmen.
“The quorum for the meeting was met because 23 members signed it. There were 19 members in the hall. Two members who went out earlier signed it from outside,” Kakarash Sidiq, Kirkuk provincial council member with the Brotherhood Faction, told Rudaw.
The Brotherhood Faction consists of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), and the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU). The KDP members refused to attend the meeting. Their party repeatedly has said they won’t participate in politics in an “occupied city.”
He added that voting yes for the spending of the budget for services was paramount because “the people of Kirkuk need services.”
The governorate said they will start working on service projects in the city as of next week.
“The governorate is committed to the report submitted by the provincial council members. Projects will start in Kirkuk from next week on. Kirkuk has been deprived of projects for a long time,” Ali Ahmadi, assistant to the Kirkuk governor, told Rudaw.
Some members didn’t sign it because they thought the distribution of projects in the city is unfair.
“It is illegal,” Najat Hussein, Turkmen Kirkuk provincial council member, told Rudaw.
“We don’t have details of the projects,” he added.
Some members signed the bill despite the shortages they say the budget contains, arguing the city is desperate for services.
“The budget has technical and political shortages,” Awat Mohammad Amin, Kirkuk Provincial Council member with the Brotherhood Faction, told Rudaw.
“Out of the 106 billion dinars allocated for reconstruction, only 11 billion is allocated for Kurdish areas,” he added.
Kirkuk is a disputed territory claimed by both Erbil and Baghdad. Article 140 of the Iraqi constitution was supposed to have resolved the issue of disputed territories by 2007, but little progress has been made in the implementation of the article which calls for a census and referendum in these areas to establish the will of the people.
Through the Islamic State (ISIS) conflict, Kirkuk was under the administration of Kurdish security forces, including the Peshmerga, and Governor Najmaldin Karim, a Kurd.
Following the participation of Kirkuk city and some other areas in the Kurdistan Region’s independence referendum of 2017 and takeover by federal troops, then Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi recommended for the parliament to sack Karim.
In last year’s Iraqi parliamentary election, Kurdish parties took six seats, Turkmen three, and Arabs three, while Christians were given their minority-quota seat.
He was replaced by Abadi with acting Governor Rakan Saeed al-Jabouri, a Sunni Arab, whose policies have been scrutinized by locals and Baghdad, alike.
Reporting by Hardi Mohammed
