Amend the Iraqi Constitution

(English version below)

1- الدكتور محمد علي زيني خبير نفط واقتصاد

alizainy@gmail.com

2-غازي المفتي مهندس

ghazi@london.com

3- راجحة الرومي مدرّسة

rajiharoomi@gmail.com

4- ليث الكندي طبيب

laithalkindi@blueyonder.co.uk

The constitution, the oil law and Iraqi people’s tragedy

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful

We, Iraqis signed below, send the following appeal to:

The struggling Iraqi people

The President of the Republic of Iraq

The Prime Minister

The Members of the Counsel of Representatives

All Civil Societies and Labor Unions

All Iraqi Media

U.N. Secretary General

Secretary General of the Arab League

Secretary General of the Islamic Action Organization

The constitution is a social contract among all factions of the people, which they accepted as a supreme law for the country to organize the life of the people and the state. As it declares the rights and duties and distributes the authorities, it requires the consent of the majority of the people, as the ordinary contract requires the consent of the contracting parties.

The constitution that was promulgated in 2005 was supposed to get the consent described above, so that it becomes a legal social contract to which the people adhere, respect, defend and sacrifice for. However, this has not happened because important factions of the Iraqi people rejected it. As it was supposed that the remaining majority of the Iraqi people who accepted the constitution did that with a free will and full awareness, it is very doubtful that the attributes of complete freedom and full awareness were available to the people who voted yes to the constitution under conditions of complete lack of security, widespread crime, severe unemployment, absence of basic services, and rampant corruption. Moreover, the people were led to the polling centers unaware of what the constitution was all about and what its contents were, since it was not discussed publicly by the media and civil society organizations. And, as if this was not enough, the party leaders, especially the Shiites and the Kurds, reciprocated behind closed doors, just two days before the referendum, convenient changes in the constitution’s articles, and that was in itself a betrayal to the whole Iraqi parliament and to the Iraqi people whom they were supposed to represent.

As a result, this constitution came out paralyzed and unbalanced. It divides, and does not unite, and will not be a stimulant for the desired social peace as a result of a fundamental flaw in its structure. The constitution came out lacking the necessary balance between the federal government and the region and provincial governments since the authorities of the region and provincial governments turned out to be more than the authorities of the federal government, which made the constitution look as if it was a confederation of independent states, and not a federal constitution of entities within one state.

Unlike other federal constitutions in the world, which specify the exclusive authorities granted to the federal government, and those granted to the second layer of government (i.e. the Kurdish region and the other provinces not organized within a region) and the joint authorities between the federal government and the second layer governments as mentioned above, we see that Chapter Four of the constitution mentioned a very short list of the authorities of the federal government and another similarly short one for the joint authorities, and then granted the biggest authorities to the region and provincial governments. As a result, article (111) in Chapter Four came out saying “anything that was not stipulated within the exclusive authorities of the federal government shall be within the authorities of the regions and provinces which are not organized within a region, and in case of conflict, the priority goes to the regional law.”

As a result to the flawed logic of this article, the federal government is deprived from even the power of imposing and collecting taxes. It is known that the modern and economically developed state, which is what the Iraqi state wants to be in the future, depends on funding its budget from taxes and not from extracting and exporting raw materials, such as what is happening in the countries of the of the third world and, also, what is currently happening in Iraq by almost solely depending on oil exports.

Yes, Iraq in its current situation, and after the former regime destroyed its national economy, became dependent more than any other time on its oil wealth which, without it, the government becomes bankrupt and the people become poor and hungry due to the stupid and irrational policies of the successive governments. Iraq will keep depending on its oil income for a period of more than twenty years until its economy is built on sound basis, the results of which would be funding the budgets of the federal government and the regional and provincial governments primarily from tax sources and not from dependence on production and export of raw material.

Iraq’s petroleum wealth, however, did not survive the harm of those who messed up the constitution. Despite that article (109) says, “oil and gas belong to the Iraqi people in all regions and provinces” which is a fair and righteous article, the other articles concerning this important wealth came ambiguous and may be interpreted in different ways, and part of it may clash with or cancel the previous article. Article (110-firstly) says, “the federal government operates oil and gas from the current fields with the governments of the region and the provinces… etc.” This article did not give a clear definition of the current fields and whether or not they include the fields which are already discovered but not developed.

What is also confusing in this article is that the right of the federal government, which is the supreme authority in the country, is confined only to sharing the governments of the region and producing provinces in the operation of the current fields, and did not provide any logical and clear reason behind depriving the federal government from participation in operating the petroleum wealth which will be discovered in the future, given that the Iraqi oil experts confirm that the oil to be discovered in the future may exceed twice what is currently discovered. So, is it because the federal government is less efficient and less knowledgeable in operating the oil fields than the regional and provincial governments? The federal government, even before it became federal, was the one operating the oil and gas fields in northern, central and southern Iraq since they were discovered in 1927 until this day. Furthermore, the federal government, by participating in the operation of the oil and gas fields with the regional and provincial governments, it will carry out its duty from a wider angle, taking into consideration the interests of Iraq and the Iraqi people as a whole in a just and comprehensive way, unlike the regional and provincial governments who will not move far from their narrow, local interests. Moreover, the participation of the federal government in operating the current and future fields, will give Iraq power vis-à-vis the international oil companies, as in this participation Iraq will be united before these companies. Contrarily, the absence of the federal government’s participation will leave the northern oil riches to the custody of a self-interested region and make it easier for the international oil companies to corner the weak and competing provinces. This is not to mention corruption which will spread north and south in the absence of the watchful eye of the federal government and will wreak havoc in the Iraqi people’s only remaining assets.

Or is depriving the federal government from its rights to participate in running the entire oil and gas wealth points to a hidden pitfall? The interests of some political leaders have coincided, as it seems, in a way such that article (110) was deviated from its normal path of serving the Iraqi people with all its factions, sects, regions and provinces to prefer the interests of some factions over others. The government of the Kurdish region started acting from now as if it wants to run the future oil and gas assets autocratically, and has already started signing oil contracts with foreign companies for exploration and production with generous terms for the companies without consultation with the federal government. In addition, there are serious efforts to establish new regions from the southern and central provinces that may follow the same pattern of the Kurdish region in exploiting the future oil and gas fields while, at the same time, ignoring the federal government. These serious efforts to establish the southern and central regions are led by an influential sectarian party, and may end up with tragic results not only in running the oil and gas riches to the exclusion of the federal government, but also in leading to the dreaded division of Iraq.

Two days before the referendum of the constitution, it was agreed on reviewing the constitution and forming a committee for this review whose mission will end by May 15, 2007. The coming period is critical in that the Iraqi people have to say their opinion and what they want concerning the amendment of the constitution and the impending Iraqi oil and gas law.

We call upon the Iraqi people, all its sons and daughters who care about the unity of Iraq, its future and brotherhood among all its citizens, and who desire, after decades of degenerate life under despotism and dictatorship, a strong, united and independent state, to demand the removal of the several flaws in the constitution for the benefit of the Iraqi people and their rights and unity, and that such changes are to be implemented in complete transparency through presenting the suggested amendments for the participation of the people via the public media and the civil society organizations.

1- Dr. Muhammed-Ali Zainy, Oil and Economics Expert
alizainy@gmail.com

2. Ghazi Al-Mufti, Engineer
ghazi@london.com

3. Rajiha al-Roomi, Teacher
rajiharoomi@gmail.com

4. Laith al-Kindy, Physician
laithalkindi@blueyonder.co.uk