March
19, 2011
ERBIL-Hewlêr,
Kurdistan region 'Iraq', — A Kurdish lawmaker
Mahmoud Othman warned that the Kurdistan Region
Government (KRG)’s decision of cutting the
allowances for the media outlets will endanger the
independence of the channels.
In a step which seemed a compromise to the angry
anti-corruption protesters in Kurdistan, the KRG
Prime Minister Barham Salih ordered to cut the
allowances for all the governmental and
non-governmental (political party affiliated) media.
Hundreds of million Iraqi Dinars will thus be
returned to the Kurdistan treasury.
This will put the independence of the media in
Kurdistan at stake and will affect the coverage of
the “positive developments” in the Region, the
lawmaker believed.
Commenting on the motive for the decision, Othman
said the KRG could instead of cutting the media
allowances reduce the “large” number of the personal
guards of some officials “because Kurdistan is
safe.”
He also advised the Kurdish semi-autonomous
government northern Iraq to reduce the salaries of
the top officials as a sound economic measure.
|
Dr. Mahmoud Othman is an Iraqi Kurdish
parliamentarian elected from Sulaimaniyah, former member of the Barzani's
Political Bureau Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP),
and represents the Kurdistan Democratic Party and
PUK- dominated Kurdistani List in Baghdad. |
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