Governor of Iraq’s Anbar Province dismissed over ‘corruption’

The governor of Iraq’s western province of Anbar has been dismissed by provincial officials over alleged corruption as Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is pushing not-so-successful attempts against the misappropriation of public funds and incompetence.

Brigadier General Aziz Khalaf al-Tarmouz, a security adviser, told al-Sumaria television on Monday that members of the Anbar Provincial Council held a meeting in the city of al-Khalidiya and decided to relieve Sohaib al-Rawi of his duties.

Tarmouz added that 19 members of Anbar’s 30-strong provincial council voted against Rawi.

Over the past few months, hundreds of Iraqis have gathered at Tahrir (Liberation) Square in the capital, Baghdad, and elsewhere in the country, urging the containment of corruption and the formation of a technocrat government in the country.

The establishment of such a government has been stalled by persisting differences among factions in the Iraqi parliament and the lack of due government authority.

Baghdad witnessed uproarious protests over the same issues in July. The demonstrators, mostly the supporters of influential Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were rallying against rampant corruption within the country’s ruling structure. A number of people were killed or injured during the rallies.

On May 20, Abadi called on the nation to set aside political differences and unite against the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group, which has been ravaging the country since June 2014.

Earlier in May, Sadr’s followers broke into the parliament compound inside the capital’s fortified Green Zone, protesting a stalled vote to endorse Abadi’s ministerial nominees in the chamber.

Later, however, they stormed Abadi’s own office building, also in the Green Zone, in protest at government corruption.