Lawmaker seeks anti-corruption crackdown at Iraqi Electricity Ministry

Shafaq News- Baghdad

A Member of the Iraqi Parliament's Electricity and Energy Committee on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Ali Al-Zaidi to launch the government's Dawn Crackdown anti-corruption campaign at the Ministry of Electricity.

Noura Al-Juhaishi told Shafaq News that Electricity Minister Ali Saadi Waheeb “is accountable for the problems accumulated over the past 20 years, but he is responsible for the ministry today and must live up to the role.” She urged the minister to conduct field visits to ministry departments, power stations, maintenance centers, and bill collection offices, and to oversee operations directly.

The parliamentary committee had met with the minister, Al-Juhaishi said, adding that his response was “cold” and he refused to allow lawmakers to participate in monitoring the ministry's work and carrying out their oversight role.

In recent weeks, the ministry has undergone a series of leadership changes. Minister Ali Waheeb replaced the heads of several electricity distribution branches, suspended senior officials pending investigations, and referred dozens of employees to the Integrity Commission over suspected corruption and negligence.

Power cuts have long been one of Iraq's public grievances, with summer temperatures frequently exceeding 50°C and millions of households relying on private generators to compensate for limited state electricity. According to the Electricity Ministry, peak summer demand has surpassed 60,000 megawatts, while available generation remains nearly 40,000 megawatts short, a deficit the ministry attributes to illegal grid connections and reduced natural gas supplies following the regional conflict and disruptions linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Read more: Beyond 50°C: How decades of conflict are heating Iraq