Peregraf
Teachers and public sector workers in Sulaymaniyah took to the streets today, marching from Malik Mahmoud Ring Road to the United Nations office to protest the ongoing salary crisis and the lack of action on the Iraqi Federal Court's ruling regarding the Tawteen program.
The protests have coincided with a widespread boycott of schools in the city. On January 25, the Protection Committee of Protesting Teachers in Sulaymaniyah announced the resumption of their boycott of the education process due to persistent delays in salary payments. The committee declared during a press conference: "We will start boycotting schools in all schools until the distribution of December 2024 and January 2025 salaries before the end of this month."
Teachers and public sector workers in Sulaimaniyah are demonstrating from Malik Mahmoud Ring Road to the United Nations office in protest of the ongoing salary crisis and the lack of action regarding the Iraqi Federal Court's ruling on the Iraqi salary domicilization program… pic.twitter.com/d8vinp7ajn
— Peregraf (@PeregrafNews) January 28, 2025
The committee also called for the full implementation of the Iraqi Tawteen program, emphasizing that the continuation of the second semester depends on resolving the salary distribution issues. Tawteen, Iraq's salary domicilization program, aims to centralize salary payments by directly depositing funds into bank accounts, ensuring financial transparency and efficiency. This system would place salary payments under Baghdad's supervision, bypassing existing inefficiencies.
The salary crisis has exposed ongoing tensions between the Iraqi Ministry of Finance and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), with each side blaming the other for failing to uphold the Iraqi budget law. KRG employees, including teachers, have yet to receive their December 2024 salaries, leading to mounting frustration.
Adding to the controversy, around 20 Shiite lawmakers recently urged Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to suspend financial transfers to the KRG until it fulfills its budgetary obligations. The lawmakers accused the KRG of failing to remit oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad, alleging the KRG owes 399 billion Iraqi dinars in non-oil revenues and over 4 trillion dinars in other dues. The group has also threatened to summon Finance Minister Taif Sami for questioning over funds already transferred to the KRG.
This growing crisis underscores the deep-rooted financial and political disagreements between Baghdad and Erbil, further complicating salary payments in the Kurdistan Region.
Muthanna Amin, a Kurdish member of the Iraqi Parliament, sharply criticized the KRG’s management of the crisis on December 28, 2024. He stated: "The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has the money and must pay the salaries. Where are the revenues of hundreds of thousands of oil tankers, border revenues, electricity, and traffic?".
The crisis has had a profound impact on the 1.25 million public sector employees and pensioners in the Kurdistan Region, whose salaries remain uncertain. The delays stem from longstanding disputes over budget allocations, inefficiencies in the KRG’s payroll system, and a lack of financial transparency. Despite the Federal Supreme Court’s ruling mandating Baghdad to release funds for KRG salaries under specific conditions, payment delays persist, leaving public sector employees grappling with an uncertain financial future.
The protests today serve as a stark reminder of the pressing need for a resolution to the financial crisis, as the region’s educators and workers demand immediate action to address their grievances.