Corruption
Adds To
Baquba's Problems
By Ahmed Ali
15 November, 2007
Inter Press Service
BAQUBA, Nov 15 (IPS)
- Facing violence, unemployment and poverty, the capital city
of Iraq's volatile Diyala province now finds itself confronting also
corruption.
This follows the failed promises
of reform, reconstruction and rehabilitation at the beginning of the
U.S. occupation of Iraq. Billions of dollars of U.S. and Iraqi funds
were set aside for rebuilding Iraq, ruined by four years of occupation,
12 years of sanctions, and 30 years of dictatorship. There is little
to show for these vast amounts of aid money.
The infrastructure is clearly
worse on all measurable levels than it was pre- invasion.
Under the Coalition Provisional
Authority, more than 7 billion dollars went "missing" in the
first year of occupation alone. Now Iraqi authorities are blamed for
adding to the corruption.
Contractors in Baquba told
IPS they believe the governor's office is directly involved in the corruption.
"I'm not quite sure
about the governor (Ra'ad Hameed al-Mula Jowad al- Tamimi) himself,"
the owner of a security contracts company, speaking on condition of
anonymity, told IPS. "What is certain is that his protection group
plays a big role in taking the money using his name."
"In contrast to all
the contractors, a large number of projects go to the governor's nephew,"
contractor Abu Ahmed told IPS. "This contractor often tries to
influence the monitoring committee to sign his invoice even if it is
inconsistent with the specifications of the job."
Payments for roads and bridges
have been made even when the job was badly done or left incomplete,
he said.
Companies and contractors
submit their bids to the government committee. The committee as a whole
is then supposed to examine the tenders according to the terms announced.
But in Diyala province, contractors say the committee divides the projects
among its members.
"Every committee member
takes a number of projects, and makes deals with contractors,"
co-owner of the al-Khadra company for general contractors, who did not
wish to give his name, told IPS. "If the contractor does not pay
them a bribe, he won't get the contract."
The usual rate, he said,
is 10 percent of the value of the contract to be paid to the one who
awards it. The company owner said he had seen this process first-hand.
"Imagine, in a project
of one million dollars, the contractor should pay 100,000 dollars to
be awarded the project to begin with," he added.
Governor al-Tamimi was nearly
killed Sep. 27 by a suicide bomber outside a mosque in Shifta village
nearby Baquba. He was injured, but 24 people were killed, and 37 others
wounded.
A city official told IPS
that a senior member of the department of planning in the governor's
office has been accused of blackmailing contractors, "and his name
is on the list of the minister's council for investigation."
Abu Shaima, who has worked
for some of the companies that have been awarded contracts, said there
are four contact persons "in the north" who make deals with
contractors. Local workers, most of whom are now jobless, told IPS that
government employment is itself affected by corruption.
"You have to pay to
be a policeman," former policeman Abu Qassim told IPS. "You
bring your CV, with a few hundred dollars." Or, he said, "the
first salary will be for the officer who is in charge of nominating
volunteers."
There are all sorts of variations.
"Sometimes, there are hundreds of false names whose salaries go
to the senior officers. Or, one may be told that he can have half of
the salary without coming to the office." Meanwhile, basic infrastructure,
from water to electricity to security, barely functions.
On Oct. 25, U.S. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice was questioned by lawmakers over claims that
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was shielding top ministers from
corruption probes.
Senator Henry Waxman said
Maliki had issued a decree requiring his approval before any minister
or official in the presidential office was brought before a court on
corruption charges.
Rice refused to respond directly,
and instead claimed that U.S. officials took all allegations of corruption
in Iraq seriously.
Leave
A Comment
&
Share Your Insights
Comment
Policy
Digg
it! And spread the word!
Here is a unique chance to help this article to be read by thousands
of people more. You just Digg it, and it will appear in the home page
of Digg.com and thousands more will read it. Digg is nothing but an
vote, the article with most votes will go to the top of the page. So,
as you read just give a digg and help thousands more to read this article.