Comments on: The Allawi Resignation and Iraq’s New Strongwomen http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/ An Iraq Blog by a Victim of the Human Rights Crimes of the Norwegian Government Sun, 19 May 2013 18:33:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Reidar Visser http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/#comment-15035 Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:49:49 +0000 http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=3456#comment-15035 Mohammed, sorry for the late answer, I forgot about your question. Based on memory, I think the DGs may enjoy some protection against abrupt sackings by the ministers but I am not 100 per cent sure. There are now laws for many individual ministries, but there may be general civil service regulations as well. In this case, it is apparently about a special advisor rather than a DG.

]]> By: Mohammed http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/#comment-14565 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 15:17:31 +0000 http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=3456#comment-14565 Hi Reidar:

Two points:

Regarding women in positions of power, I think this would be a positive development if women were truly appointed as career civil servants based upon their technical competence—but is this such an example? Is al-Yasiri a competent technocrat or merely a loyal Dawa operative doing the bidding of her party? If it is the latter, then I don’t see this as much of an advance for the positions of women in society. Her only power would be based on acting at the behest of her male-dominated party bosses.

2) Can you comment on the powers granted to ministry heads to hire/fire people in their respective ministries? Previously we have discussed on your blog how ministries were utilized be each party to grant favors to their loyal followers. However, here we have a case of a DG going against the ministry head. Why can he not just fire her? How did she get the position to begin with? The Iraqi constitution doesn’t seem to specify division of powers between the PM and ministers. So on what basis are decisions made regarding personnel for ministries?

Thanks
M

]]> By: jaxvox http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/#comment-14559 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 13:09:17 +0000 http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=3456#comment-14559 The resignation of Mr Allawi will allow the GOI to finally move in on the independent media and telecoms regulator (which has been paralysed by in-fighting since 2008) and take over the multi-million dollar mobile telecoms sector. The implications for media freedoms and transparency are grim – one look at the draft Cyber Crimes Law is an indication of what is in store for Iraq’s online activists and internet users.

]]> By: Reidar Visser http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/#comment-14538 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 04:23:26 +0000 http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=3456#comment-14538 Ali, the article is not about whether the actions of Yasari are good or bad; it is simply about the fact that women in Iraq can rise to positions of power where they evidently are a problem to powerful men. This comes across to me interesting in a comparative perspective in a region where this kind of women empowerment appears to be quite rare.

]]> By: Ali D http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/the-allawi-resignation-and-the-strongwomen-of-iraq/#comment-14530 Fri, 31 Aug 2012 01:37:56 +0000 http://gulfanalysis.wordpress.com/?p=3456#comment-14530 Wow, Reidar, really? Hiyam al-Yasari’s ‘refusal to be pushed around’ is what you found pertinent about the latest developments?

I would have expected you to be more familiar with the matter; al-Yasari wasn’t a woman that simply ‘stood up for her ideas’; she acted as accuser and judge in the ministry, was a Maliki stooge for holding up progress inside the ministry and acted to push dodgy contracts for Dawa..

These are further details released by Mohammed Allawi about Hiyam al-Yasari: http://tinyurl.com/9mnr6f3

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