VZCZCXRO8027
PP RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHGB #4078 3661532
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 311532Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1083
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 004078 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM IZ
 
SUBJECT:  ERBIL RRT: Movement on the KRG Provincial Powers Law 
 
(U)  This is an Erbil Regional Reconstruction Team cable.  It is 
Sensitive but Unclassified; handle accordingly.  Not for 
distribution on the Internet. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The KRG Council of Ministers (COM) and the 
Kurdistan National Assembly (KNA) are discussing the latest draft of 
the KRG Provincial Powers Law.  In a sign of the KNA's limited but 
growing political independence from the KRG executive branch, the 
KNA rejected the previous draft on the grounds that it did not 
provide any real decision-making authority to the provincial level 
of the Kurdistan Region.  The Kurdistan Region lags behind the rest 
of the country in devolving power to its provinces; several 
provincial interlocutors were pessimistic about the law's success 
and believe that the USG does not desire to see its passage.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
¶2. (U) The Kurdistan Regional Government has formed a new committee 
to discuss the latest draft of the KRG Provincial Powers law.  The 
committee, headed by the Minister for the Region for KNA Affairs, 
Sa'ad Khalid Mohamed, and comprised of members of the legal 
committee of the KNA and the heads of the three provincial councils 
in the Kurdistan Region, was formed by the KRG Council of Ministers 
to discuss the changes to the law suggested by the KNA.  (Comment: 
In a sign of the KNA's limited but growing political independence 
from the KRG executive branch, the KNA rejected the previous draft 
because it devolved no real responsibility to provincial 
administrations.  END NOTE)  After one or two additional meetings, 
Minister Mohamed is expected to take the results of the committee 
back to the CoM for review. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In a November 17 meeting with Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) 
Dohuk Branch Head Gazi Saeed, Mr. Saeed was skeptical that the CoM 
will take the KNA-suggested changes into consideration because doing 
so would require a weakening of the authority of the central 
government in Erbil.  Without a devolution of power from Erbil to 
the provincial level, Saeed does not believe that the interests of 
the provinces will be represented in Erbil.  He requested that USG 
engage the CoM now and encourage them to approve a draft that 
devolves more authority to the provincial level. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Dohuk Provincial Council Chairman Fadl Omar is one of the 
members of the committee that met on November 18.  In a conversation 
with RRTOff immediately after the meeting, Dr. Fadl stated that the 
committee discussed the following major points: 1) a separate 
provincial-level budget allocation, distinct from the funds 
allocated to ministers in Erbil, programmed to the provincial level 
as the ministers deem appropriate; 2) a devolution of monitoring 
authority over the work of the provincial Directorates General to 
the Provincial Councils; 3) a requirement for the governor to resign 
as head of the Provincial Council as soon as elected to the office 
of governor.  According to the Dohuk PC Chairman, Minister Mohamed 
was very cooperative but said that he must present these proposals 
to the COM for their consideration and approval.  Dr. Fadl 
reiterated Provincial Councils' desire for the devolution of 
responsibility to the provincial level.  He said that they would be 
satisfied with a Provincial Powers Law somewhere between the draft 
previously rejected by the KNA and the one counter-proposed by the 
KNA. 
 
¶5. (U) On another note, Mr. Saeed expressed the KIU's belief that 
the US Embassy is working against the success of provincial level 
governments in the Kurdistan Region.  As evidence, he cited the fact 
that the US Embassy went to great lengths and took extraordinary 
measures to facilitate the passage of the Provincial Elections Law 
Qmeasures to facilitate the passage of the Provincial Elections Law 
in the rest of Iraq, but has done nothing to support the passage of 
the corresponding law in the Kurdistan Region.  He also noted the 
pending termination of the LGP-II program in the Kurdistan Region, 
while the program will continue in the other provinces of Iraq. 
(NOTE: Until the program in the Kurdistan Region was terminated, 
LGP-II provided capacity-building training for the Provincial 
Councils. END NOTE) 
 
¶6. (SBU) COMMENT:  The Kurdistan Region lags behind the rest of the 
country in devolving power to the provinces.  Within Dohuk 
especially, there is quiet but growing discontent about how 
ill-represented the province's interests are in Erbil.  Sometimes 
referred to as the "orphan province" by residents, Dohuk's 
provincial activities are funded through the KDP's 52% "share" of 
the money the KRG receives from the central government, the bulk of 
which is spent on Erbil province.  END COMMENT 
 
CROCKER