Dismissal of electricity minister fails to quell protests in Iraq
After a month of protests in Iraq over the lack of electricity and other public services, the Iraqi prime minister dismissed the minister of electricity, without any clear vision for a solution to the crisis.
A month into the wave of protests that broke out in various cities in southern Iraq, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered on July 29 the dismissal of Minister of Electricity Qasim al-Fahdawi and referred him to investigation. He attributed this decision to the “deterioration of electricity services,” which has been behind the outbreak of protests during Iraq’s blazing hot summer.
Fahdawi welcomed the decision and called on “the senior cadres in the Ministry of Electricity to cooperate with the investigation committees toward unveiling the truth.” He said, “Reports about increasing power cuts are invalid. There may have been some cuts in the past, but the situation is getting better now.”
