Iraqis expressed their refusal to grant members of Parliament, ministers and local councils pension salaries, pointing to the need to enact laws that abolish these privileges.
The publication of the official Iraqi Gazette, today, Tuesday, of the republican decree referring to retirement members of the previous fourth session of the House of Representatives, sparked controversy on social media platforms.
A statement by the Ministry of Justice, received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), said, “The new issue with No. (4663) includes the issuance of Republican Decree No. (65) for the year 2021 to refer members of the House of Representatives for the fourth parliamentary session to retirement.”
Iraqis considered that the continued retirement of members of Parliament after the end of each election cycle, with a service of only 4 years, and in light of the privileges that deputies enjoy, is a great exaggeration, calling for the abolition of these privileges and pensions.
And former MP Youssef Al-Kalabi announced, through his Twitter account, his refusal to receive a pension for his previous parliamentary work, calling on the current parliament to legislate a law to abolish the retirement of parliaments, governorates, municipalities and ministers.
Al-Kalabi said, “The parliamentary job is to represent the people who voted for you to enact laws that serve them and monitor the work of the executive governments for them.”
Parliamentary work is to represent the people who voted for you to enact laws that serve them and monitor the work of the executive governments for them #advertise My rejection of any retirement from my previous parliamentary work, and I wish the current parliament to legislate a law to abolish the retirement of parliaments, governorates, municipalities and ministers #positions_assignment_mo_honor
— Yousef Al-Kilaby (@Y_B_Alkilaby) January 11, 2022
For his part, former MP Sabah Al-Saadi said on his Twitter account, “is committed not to submit any transaction for retirement,” adding that he voted in 2014 to reject the retirement of parliamentarians, “and this commitment continues without any change in positions.”
Committed to not submitting any retirement transaction
In 2014 voted against the retirement of parliamentarians
This commitment continues without any change in positions #fixedprinciples pic.twitter.com/1yU975YS4g– Sabah Al-Saadi (@sabah_Alsaaedy) January 11, 2022
Citizens expressed their refusal to grant members of the House of Representatives, ministers and local councils pension salaries, pointing to the need to enact laws that abolish these privileges.
Researcher Muhannad Al-Azzawi questioned, through his Twitter account, the legality of referring a member of Parliament to retirement, noting that “it is known that the MP is not a government employee until he is retired, but rather is a representative of his voters in Parliament, as well as the legal retirement age.”
As for the journalist Muthanna Al-Saleh, he considered that the money granted to former MPs helps them to use it to return to parliament again, noting that any real change will not happen at the level of people, but the slogans change according to the general mood.
The problem is not only hi
The problem is that for those who count the money stolen from this country, they return to use to renew the session, and so we see a closed trading process between a certain ruling class in which we did not see any real change at the level of personalities, but rather the slogans change according to the general mood https://t.co/ppgxJ5Xp6k— Muthana AlSalih – Muthana Al-Salih (@Muthana_AlSalih) January 11, 2022
For his part, blogger Hussein Al-Darraji called on the deputies to stop wasting public money, and start reforming themselves by canceling retirement for Parliament and the government, as well as canceling the allocations for MPs and the three presidencies, and working to reduce salaries to a manager’s salary.
The General Retirement Authority announces the retirement of all members of the House of Representatives.
To the new House of Representatives. If you want reform, start from yourselves, work on canceling retirement for Parliament and the government, as well as canceling allocations for representatives and the three presidencies, and working to reduce salaries to a salary at the level of a manager. No waste of public money.– Hussain Al-Daraji _hussan aldraji (@08CuJcL7iqZIEGw) January 11, 2022