Lights out on Maliki's electricity promises
Ali al-Fayyad, deputy head of the Iraqi parliament's Energy Committee, said he's hoping the private sector steps in to ease the electricity crisis that the people have suffered from for decades, especially in the scorching summer months.
A week ago, Mohammed Karim bought a small inflatable pool for his three children to ease the scorching heat during power outages. He has a two-year-old toddler who cannot bear the high temperatures at night, so Mohammed stays up late next to him until the power comes back so he can place him under the air conditioner.
Since the 1990s, Iraq has suffered from a significant shortage in power, after the US military targeted power stations during Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1991. And the electricity problem worsened after the occupation of Baghdad in April 2003.
What makes matters worse are the charges of corruption against former Ministers of Electricity Aiham Alsammarae and Karim Wahid, who headed the ministry during different periods following 2003. The two ministers concluded many deals that were supposedly aimed at increasing the production of electricity, but the government discovered that most of the deals were either fake or violated terms and conditions.
With the increasingly high temperatures in Iraq, which sometimes go above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), Iraqi houses become akin to ovens.
