Sadr wants Iraqis to get a share from country’s oil revenues
Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaking at an event (File Photo: Reuters)
Baghdad Monday, 21 March 2016
Influential Iraqi Shiite Muslim
cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leading protests to demand a technocrat
government to fight graft, urged authorities on Monday to give every
Iraqi a direct share from the nation’s oil revenues.
Iraq, with crude oil reserves among the largest in the world, ranks 161 out of 168 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in 2015.
“Allocate a share for each Iraqi citizen from the oil revenues,” he said in a speech detailing proposals to end graft, improve public services and revive the economy. He gave no detail on how this might be done.
Sadr’s followers have been staging protests for about a month demanding a new government be formed with technocrats not affiliated with political parties in order to fight rampant corruption.
The cleric didn’t specify if his demand on distribution of oil revenue to the population was a condition to end the protests.
Iraq, with crude oil reserves among the largest in the world, ranks 161 out of 168 in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in 2015.
“Allocate a share for each Iraqi citizen from the oil revenues,” he said in a speech detailing proposals to end graft, improve public services and revive the economy. He gave no detail on how this might be done.
Sadr’s followers have been staging protests for about a month demanding a new government be formed with technocrats not affiliated with political parties in order to fight rampant corruption.
The cleric didn’t specify if his demand on distribution of oil revenue to the population was a condition to end the protests.
