Day Ten - (Opinion) So What is the Problem?

Shkow Sharif

I know! I know! It’s a question we are getting very tired of. Yet everyone seems to have a different answer to this question. With almost all the lists campaigning on a platform of reform, transparency and change the question, (What are the problems within Iraqi Kurdistan?) suddenly takes on new relevance. As there are countless answers to this question I have decided to tackle this question by paralleling it to the image of a tree. (I know it’s a weird way of answering the question but all will become clear as you read on.)

All trees need roots so what are the root problems within Kurdistan? For a nation to modernise it needs a number of foundational elements. (In Basic English foundational elements is the juice needed to keep a nation running.) Let’s define these elements, first a strong flow of electricity to keep an economy functioning and second, a strong flood of water to its towns and cities. So where is Kurdistan lacking? In Kurdistan it is not at all uncommon for a conversation to begin with the sentence how is your electricity and water supply at the moment? The reason for this is that one of the major foundational problems within Kurdistan is the lack of these key resources to its citizens. Some argue that the Kurdish government too often has to rely on outsiders for the supply of these resources and hence it’s unreliable flow. These arguments, however, start to wear thin as citizens begin their march towards the ballot boxes. In regards to electricity many citizens today understand their geopolitical stalemate but challenge their government to look to renewable energy sources. With such powerful sunlight in the country and powerful winds it is not surprising that the patience of citizens is wearing thin as they see that little is being done to install solar plants or even mountain based wind farms in order to harness this power. In regards to water supply the same revulsion is the case, many citizens cry “why can they drill, pump and sell oil, one of the most sensitive political issues in the Middle East, but the government cannot guarantee us a regular supply of water?”

Moving up in our tree we move on to the trunk. These are also foundational elements but ones that vary in their importance in relation to the two just outlined above. These ‘trunk’ elements can be boiled down to two words, National Infrastructure, by which I point to Iraqi Kurdistan’s, motoring services, communications services, and public transport. Beginning with one of the most relied upon systems in Iraqi Kurdistan, its motoring system, problems here are endemic. Vehicles in the region are more often than not knock offs bought into the region so the brain behind the move can make a quick buck and in most cases they share the proceeds with a high ranking official who turns a blind eye. These knock off cars which boast latest number plates often find themselves in garages years before they should even start showing signs of deterioration.

Another issue that needs to be raised in the motoring system is the complete lack of Highway Code enforcement, if at all there is one. Most drivers in the region will tell you that the Kurdish Highway Code is quite simply “stay on your right hand side and ignore any speed limit or safety signs that you see.” It is not even uncommon to hear stories from drivers who tell you that they have been stopped while drinking and driving and police officers have quite simply apologised to the driver for “spoiling their mood.” This of course all to the detriment of the thousands of people who have been killed in car accidents in the region in recent years and boils down to a lack of accountability by the government, police force and the motorists themselves.

Then of course there is the issue of the roads and bridges themselves. Built just like cars from knock off material they barely last a few years before once again they need to be rebuilt. Some neighbourhoods in the region just like the one I am living does not enjoy the luxury of a tar built street forcing cars to battle through the uneven dusty and rocky passage that has been carved out between buildings. Public transport in the region is also highly lacking. The two real forms of public transport within the city is am outdated bus network or its highly priced alternative the taxi network. Clearly then the infrastructural trunk of Iraqi Kurdistan needs much work to improve its withered condition.

The “branch” problems of our “problems tree” are defined by problems within the consumer industry, the political field, education, healthcare and employment. But surprisingly all of these issues can be explained by a single culture in Kurdish society that is the complete lack of quality control within the system. There is no public body that assesses conditions in these levels. Hence it is again not a shock to hear stories; that the food sold in shops in Kurdistan are often expired, health workers often treat their patients with little respect or dignity, students have poor teaching levels, trust in politicians is fading due to widespread corruption in the system and employment is often dealt with on the bases of who you know and not what you know.
These then are only some of the major problems within the Kurdish ‘problem tree’. What it is that really annoys the Iraqi Kurdish electorate is not that these problems exist because most understand that these issues will not be resolved overnight. The issue that angers residents is that they have been practicing self rule since 1991, that’s 18 years and the changes that people have seen are only cosmetic.

Ok! Ok! I hear the readers yelling at me we all know the problems but what needs to be done? In my view it is time for the candidates who are running for election to start making substance filled election promises to the electorate. It is no good for Nawshirwan Mustafa to campaign on a promise of change without outlining the intricate details of his change. How will he change the system? What will he do? The same goes for President Barzani and Jalal Talabani, and all other lists running. These promises become a way for the electorate in the next four years to hold these parties and lists to account and measure their success.

In my opinion we should not be fooled into saying I want Nawshirwan, I want Barzani, or I want Talabani. These are just names, what we really want is those things that we are lacking. We want a progressive infrastructural network, decent public transport, uninterrupted electricity and water supplies, quality consumer goods and good health. Then we should ask who will provide these for us and how? Once we ask these questions then a government will be established more often than not one with a fundamentally important opposition to ensure that election promises are upheld.

I have in short only touched on some very basic problems in the system there are further issues that will be discussed in future days, such as the separation of state and party and the overriding, universal principle of democracy that law must transcend every layer of society.