{"id":10949,"date":"2018-08-09T18:24:58","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T18:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=10949"},"modified":"2018-08-09T18:24:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T18:24:58","slug":"iraqi-pm-overhauls-electricity-ministry-after-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=10949","title":{"rendered":"Iraqi PM overhauls electricity ministry after protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-nid=\"1353741\" readability=\"31.6091603053\">\n<div class=\"grid-x entry-article-inner align-center\">\n<div class=\"cell large-shrink\">\n<div class=\"entry-aside-info stick-aside-info show-for-large\" data-nid=\"1353741\">\n<p>\nUpdated 4 min 27 sec ago <\/p>\n<p>\n<time>August 09, 2018<span> 13:37<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"views-count-placeholder nid-1353741\"><i class=\"icomoon-icon icon-views\"><\/i><span>0<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cell large-auto\" readability=\"14.8908594816\">\n<div class=\"printable-area\" readability=\"25\">\n<h2>Iraqi PM overhauls electricity ministry after protests<\/h2>\n<div class=\"img-area show-for-printable-area\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/n_670_395\/public\/main-image\/2018\/08\/09\/1277991-375758174.jpg?itok=VuRiks0a\" alt=\"\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-highlight\">\n<ul>\n<li>Four directors have been dismissed and a number of others moved<\/li>\n<li>Those sacked were in charge of investments, contracts, distribution and administration at the ministry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-meta hide-for-large no-print\">\n<p>\nUpdated 4 min 27 sec ago <\/p>\n<p>\nAFP\n<\/p>\n<p>\n<time>August 09, 2018<span> 13:37<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\nBAGHDAD: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi has sacked a number of electricity ministry officials, his office said Thursday, in the latest attempt to quell public anger at chronic power cuts.<br \/>Four directors have been dismissed and a number of others moved \u201cin order to reorganize the operation of the ministry in the service of the country,\u201d the prime minister\u2019s office said in a statement.<br \/>Those sacked were in charge of investments, contracts, distribution and administration at the ministry.<br \/>The decision follows the dismissal last month of electricity minister Qassem Al-Fahdawi \u201cbecause of the deterioration in the electricity sector,\u201d the premier\u2019s office said at the time.<br \/>Iraq has been hit by more than a month of protests which erupted in Basra and quickly spread to other southern cities, as well as reaching the capital Baghdad.<br \/>Demonstrators are angry at the dire state of public services, with regular power cuts offering little respite from sweltering summer temperatures.<br \/>With the national grid providing just a few hours of electricity per day, many Iraqis are forced to pay to use generators through the private sector.<br \/>Protesters have also rallied against water shortages, unemployment and graft in a country where citizens argue they fail to benefit from the country\u2019s oil wealth.<br \/>Officially $40 billion (34 billion euros) has been allocated to the power sector over the past 15 years, but a substantial slice has been siphoned off by corrupt politicians and businessmen who have fronted fake contracts.<br \/>Iraq\u2019s anti-graft Commission of Integrity said Thursday it had succeeded in \u201crecovering and preventing the waste\u201d of public funds to the value of $322 million in the first six months of the year.<br \/>The commission said its investigations had allowed the judiciary to issue 1,071 arrest warrants, including against nine ministers and 21 senior officials but without naming them. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated 4 min 27 sec ago August 09, 2018 13:37 0 Iraqi PM overhauls electricity ministry after protests Four directors have been dismissed and a number of others moved Those sacked were in charge of investments, contracts, distribution and administration at the ministry Updated 4 min 27 sec ago AFP August 09, 2018 13:37 BAGHDAD:&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":10950,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10949","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10949\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}