Al-Sudani's 'shadow cabinet' will ruin Iraq, lawmaker says

Shafaq News – Baghdad

Iraq’s Transport and Communications Committee criticized Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s advisors on Tuesday, warning that exclusive project awards could lead to repeated infrastructure failures.

Committee member Haitham al-Zarkani told Shafaq News Agency that Iraq suffers from what he described as pseudo-advisors, whose influence has “negatively” affected planning in the transport and communications sectors.

Despite longstanding calls since 2003 to reform the advisory team, the MP said, the Prime Minister has not responded to these demands. Instead, he appointed an advisor for transport affairs who, according to al-Zarkani, “lacks sufficient experience in the sector.”

He added that al-Sudani has effectively established a “shadow cabinet” of advisors who propose projects and grant exemptions that could endanger the country.

Referring to the recent incident in Karbala, al-Zarkani warned that the collapse of the Al-Atayshi bridge, which killed two people and injured seven others, could happen again in other provinces “if project contracts continue to be awarded based on recommendations from the Prime Minister’s Office.”

The lawmaker revealed that there was a direct recommendation from the Prime Minister’s Office to the governor to award the project to a specific company, adding that both the central and local governments have marginalized the legislative and oversight roles of Parliament, including the Transport and Communications Committee.