Printer-friendly VersionBy Hawjin Rashadaddin
The Change List rejects any other Parliament Committee head post after being denied Integrity Committee head position.
Unable to decide on heads of Parliament committees after many sessions since August 20, Kurdistan Parliament at last nominated 19 committee heads, including the Integrity Committee head post.
The Change (Goran) List-the opposition bloc in Parliament-had requested the Integrity or Finance committee head post. They were rejected by Parliament, however, and now insist they will take no committee head post.
In Sunday's session, Parliament was again unable to reach the agreement concerning the issue of assigning the committee head posts. The spokesman of the Kurdistani list in Parliament, Aso Karim, previously reported that Parliament reached a preliminary agreement on assigning committee head posts, but it didn't decide on the last agreement.
"It was decided before that the Change list would take the posts of four heads of committees, but in Sunday's session the Change list asked for the head post of the Integrity or Finance committee," said Karim. "The Parliament presidency didn't agree to give the Change list the two posts because the winner list of the election, Kurdistani list--as is standard in most countries will take the posts of most of the Parliament's committee heads. What remains from the remaining posts are taken due to an agreement or election among different Parliament lists."
The head of Kurdistani list in Parliament, Sozan Khala Shahab, said before that the Change list is the only one in disagreement with Parliament concerning this issue. She said that Kurdistani list had agreements with all Parliament lists to take the heads of 11 committees, but the Change list disagreed.
"If the Change list doesn't take the head post of the Integrity Committee, it will not take any other post of committee heads and won't participate in watching the committees," said Ismail Sai'd Galali earlier, a Parliament member from the Change list.
"Parliament promised to give four committee head posts to the Change list, but they insisted on taking the head of Integrity or Finance committee post. This was rejected," noted Khala Shahab.
In Monday's session, Kurdistan Parliament decided to give Kurdistani list 15 out of 19 committee head posts.
"The Kurdistani list took 15 head posts that should have been 11. The reason behind taking four more head posts was due to nonparticipation of the Change list in taking the posts," said Dildhad Shahab, the deputy head of Kurdistani list in Kurdistan Parliament.
The Change list asked for four committee heads, four deputies and decision-makers of the committees. Their demands were accepted, with the exception of the Integrity Committee head post, noted Shahab. "Such disagreement to the Change list demand was due to Kurdistani list's main aim to stand against corruption; therefore, the Kurdistani list preferred to take this committee itself."
According to Shahab, the Kurdistani list exerted much effort for the Change list to take the head committee posts. The Change list, Shahab explained, asked for the committees of Human Rights, Women's Affairs, Reconstruction, and Integrity. But they insisted on the Integrity Committee head post. The Kurdistani list's rejection to this made them withdraw from all committees. "Dr. Rafiq Sabir, Parliament member from the Kurdistan list, became the head of the Integrity Committee of Kurdistan Parliament," said Shahab.
"The power of Parliament is found within the spirit of committees. These committees will only watch the governmental organizations. Meanwhile, the heads of committees are not the only decision-makers, but the decision of the whole committee [as a group] is important, and the head cannot decide unilaterally," Shahab explained.
He said all the lists-except the Change list-of Parliament took the position of head, deputy, or spokesperson of the committees during Parliament's nomination process.
"The Kurdistani list took the position of 15 heads, 12 deputies, and nine spokespersons of the committees. The Islamic Union list took one committee head post, one deputy, and two spokespersons.
Turkomens took one head and three spokespersons. Islamic Group took one committee head and two spokespersons of the committees. Christians took one head, one deputy, and two spokespersons. Other lists took different posts of deputies and spokespersons of the committees," reported Hassan Muhammad, member of Kurdistan Parliament from the Kurdistani list.
In a statement, the Change list announced that it will reject taking any committee head post after not being given the Integrity Committee post. Kurdistani list is in charge of delaying the establishment of Parliament's board of committee heads, the statement explained.
But Hassan Muhammad rejected the statement: "Delaying the assignment of the committee heads is due to negotiations among the lists to announce the last decisions about the heads of the committees."
The following are the names of heads, deputies, and spokespersons of the Kurdistan Parliament Committees:
1. The Committee of Legal Affairs:
Sherwan Nasih Abdullah/head; Awni Kamal Sai'd/deputy; Rojan A. Ahmed/spokesperson
2. The Committee of Finance and Fiscal Affairs:
Aras Hussein Mahmud/head; Khurshid Ahmed Salim/deputy; Muhammd Diler Mahmud/ spokesperson
3. The Committee of Interior, Security and Local Councils:
Ismail Mahmud Abdullah/head; Sherdil Tahsin Muhammad/deputy; Qadir Hassan Qadir/spoekesperson
4. The Committee of Agriculture and Water Irrigation:
Jalal Haji Ali/head; Salim Toma Kako/deputy; Zhyan Omer Sharif/spokesperson
5. The Committee of Defense of Women Rights:
Gasha Dara Jalal/head; Hazha Sleman Mustafa/deputy; Samira Abdullah Ismail/spokesperson
6. The Committee of Higher Education and Scientific Research:
Omer Hamadamin Khidir/head; Sozan Shahab Nuri/deputy; Sabah Muhammad Najib/spokesperson
7. The Committee of Health Affairs and Environment:
Hassan Mahmud Sura/head; Hawraz Sheikh Ahmed Hamad/deputy; Jihan Ismail Benjamin/spokesperson
8. The Committee of Social, Children and Family Affairs:
Abdul-Salam Mustafa Sidiq/head; Tara Tahsin Yassin/deputy; Bayan Ahmed Hassan/spokesperson
9. The Committee of Reconstruction, Settlement, and Village Modernization:
Hama Sai'd Hama Ali/head; Shiler Muhammad Najeeb/deputy; Khalil Osman Hamadamin/spokesperson
10. The Committee of Relations, Culture, Media, and Antiquities:
Bakir Karim Muhammad/head; Ibrahim Ahmed Ali/deputy; Sozan Yossif Khoshyaba/spokesperson
11. The Committee of Endowment and Religious Affairs:
Bashir Khalil Tofiq/head; Yashar Najmaddin Nuraddin/deputy; Ali Hussein Muhammad/spokesperson
12. The Committee of Peshmarga, Martyrs, and Genocidal Victims Affairs:
Abdullah Ali Ibrahim/head; Sabah Baitullah Shukri/deputy; Abdullah Mahmud Muhammad/spokesperson
13. The Committee of Human Rights:
Salar Mahmud Murad/head; Rizgar Muhammad Amin/deputy; Bafrin Hussein Muhammad/spokesperson
14. The Committee of Industry and Energy and Natural Resources:
Yawiz Khurshid Sleman/head; Avin Omer Faraj/deputy; Nasik Tofiq Abdul-Karim/spokesperson
15. The Committee of Municipality Services, Transportation, and Tourism:
Ahmed Sleman Abdullah/head; Jamal Tahir Ibrahim/deputy; Aram Shahin Dawid/spokesperson
16. The Committee of Protecting the Consumers' Rights:
Imad Ahmed Hussein/head; Lana Ahmed Mahmud/deputy; Fadhil Hussain Ismail/spokesperson
17. The Committee of Sports and Youths:
Sai'r Abdul-Ahad Augustine/head; Kaili Akram Ahmed/deputy; Tara Abdul-Razaq Muhammad/spokesperson
18. The Committee of Integrity:
Rafiq Sabir Qadir/head; Abdul-Qadir Akram Jamil/deputy; Sarwar A. Omer/spokesperson
19. The Committee of Civil Society Affairs:
Dana Sai'd Sofi/head; Omer Sidiq Muhammad/deputy; Sargul Razaq Hassan/spokesperson