PEREGRAF- Haval Ghalib
In Sulaimaniyah, local government decisions are often announced by senior Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) officials in their partisan capacity, rather than by the governor or the head of the provincial council. Many involved insist that the party is not the final arbiter for decisions in the governorate, but all eyes turn to the PUK when decisions need to be made.
Sulaimaniyah’s provincial government is based on a joint agreement between the PUK and Change Movement (Gorran), but, in a recent example of the PUK’s dominance of even minor affairs, it was the head of a local PUK branch that was behind a recent order to destroy an unauthorized fruit and vegetable market in the city using bulldozers, something that would appear to be an entirely municipal matter.
A member of Gorran, Governor of Sulaimaniyah Haval Abu Bakr insists that the local government is fully empowered and acts without any pressure or interference from political parties.
"There is no party intervention in the local administration of Sulaimaniyah governorate. Political parties draft proposals for the local administration through their representatives on the provincial council. They support local institutions, not interference," Abu Bakr told PEREGRAF.
"We work according to the law and if there is a political request to fill a post, it must go through the procedures that have been set for the governorate and the provincial council. After that a decision will be made by the local government of Sulaimaniyah," the governor added.
In response to a rash of security-related incidents in the governorate recently, Abu Bakr said that the provincial government has asked the security forces, which are affiliated with the PUK, to cooperate with local media outlets with their coverage and to give them full information.
The governor also defended the provincial governorate’s work to improve infrastructure.
"There is no day in Sulaimaniyah where dozens of small and medium-sized projects are not completed. Work has begun even on the strategic and larger projects, which are leaps and bounds ahead of some other cities in Kurdistan,” he added.
While acknowledging that Erbil has larger road projects than Sulaimaniyah at the moment, the governor attributed this to differences in geography and the underlying set up of each city.
"The issue of roads in Erbil is an important strategic issue and is related to linking the Kurdistan Region to Turkey and Europe,” he said, before pointing to what he claimed were Sulaimaniyah’s advantages in terms of health, environment, sewage, education, universities, and municipal affairs
Gorran Movement: There is interference
In contrast with the governor’s assessment, the Gorran Movement itself believes there is in fact interference in the administration of Sulaimaniyah and that official decisions are largely made by the PUK.
“Look to the fact that most government institutions have been bought by the [PUK]. Yes, there is interference, but it is not clear,” Kawa Abdullah, organizer of Gorran’s governing room, told PEREGRAF.
“The Kurdistan Democratic Party [KDP] has seized Erbil and the PUK has seized Sulaimaniyah and see official posts as their own and say they should be for them," he continued, adding that Gorran would like all posts to be allocated to candidates based on merit rather than partisan affiliation.
"In both zones, decisions are not made by the government or the administrations. Sulaimaniyah has a Gorran governor, but all the security agencies are in the hands of the PUK,” he said pointing to the response to the recent security incidents, where party officials spoke to the media rather than government ones.
“Even sometimes when the government makes a decision, it is possible that it will be reversed and the government may sometimes not even be aware that it has happened," Abdullah argued.
"This problem may be less in Erbil because only one party is dominant."
PUK: There is no interference
The PUK has been Sulaimaniyah’s dominant party for 30 years, but its officials insist that it does not interfere with government affairs, limiting itself to the ordinary business it conducts through its representatives in government.
Member of the PUK leadership, Avesta Sheikh Mohammed told PEREGRAF that the party supports governance in Sulaimaniyah and does not use its influence for the “party’s special purposes.”
She said that if anyone from the party does try to interfere, they will face interrogation from the party’s leadership.
“Final decisions in Sulaimaniyah rest with the provincial administration and their success is in their own hands,” she added.
Who decides?
Head of the Sulaimaniyah Provincial Council Azad Mohammed Amin characterized how the parties in the governorate operate, particularly the PUK, as "material and moral, not [using] interference."
"We don't see any interference clearly and no institution has come to us yet to say that the [PUK] has interfered in their work," he explained to the PEREGRAF.
The provincial council chief insisted that all decisions are made by the government and that any indication to the contrary is media speculation.
He said that the governorate was mainly focused on its efforts to achieve the decentralization of administration and finance from the KRG.
"Many projects have been implemented and there are projects still to be implemented. The projects are based on the money that the [KRG] has set up for the governorate, but it is not yet at the level that is required," said Amin.
"There is an attempt to destroy Sulaimaniyah"
Residents of Sulaimaniyah often complain about the poor state of public services in the governorate and its districts, citing unfinished projects like the Sulaimaniyah-Garmian road, the repair of the Darbandikhan tunnel, and the Goptapa-Chamchamal water project.
In an interview with PEREGRAF, member of the Kurdistan Parliament Sirwan Baban, who sits as an independent, argued that the political parties in the Kurdistan Region run the country and that party officials have more power than those in government.
"Yes, there is party intervention in Sulaimaniyah,” Baban said.
The lawmaker believes there are both blatant and surreptitious attempts "to kill Sulaimaniyah," in particular by diverting government budget allocations.
"It is not yet clear to me who is behind the attempt," he added.
"All the projects, private hospitals, and importation of cars from the borders are in the hands of the sons of those in authority, so not only the administration's decisions are in play. Even the budget is given by the parties to the government."
Unlike many officials in the Sulaimaniyah provincial government, including the governor, the Baban has been critical about the state of local infrastructure, including housing, roads, and dams.
“Even some of the [managers of] factories in Sulaimaniyah worry that they will become heavily taxed and that that they will be treated as if they are smugglers and will want to leave Sulaymaniyah. If they want to import goods from Iran, they have to partner with someone so they can work," Baban said.
Beyond administrative decentralization within the Kurdistan Region, one suggestion for boosting the governorate’s ability to build infrastructure is to make a direct deal with Baghdad, but no practical steps have been taken for now and the option remains only discussed in the streets and in media.