Food Security Bill enters Iraqi parliament in new form

Iraq's parliament is scheduled to conduct the first reading of a new form of the proposed bill on emergency support for food security and development next Thursday.

MP of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) bloc and a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee in the Iraqi parliament, Jamal Kochar, told PUKmedia, that the first bill was submitted by the caretaker government, while the second version of the bill is submitted by the Parliamentary Finance Committee.

"The new bill is similar to the old one's idea and topics, but it has a difference in some paragraphs and items," he added, explaining that the new bill will have the first and second reading, and then it will be voted on in the parliament.

He also explained that he supports the draft law, because the country is on the verge of a disaster in food security and the field of electricity if funds are not provided for these two issues, but that does not apply to all the paragraphs which were included in the previous bill.

In this regard, Nermin Maarouf, MP of the PUK bloc and also a member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, told PUKmedia that the positions of the members of the Finance Committee regarding the bill varies among supporters and opponents, pointing out that there are inconsistencies in some paragraphs in the bill.

The First Deputy Speaker of the parliament, Hakim al-Zamli, confirmed earlier on Tuesday, that the parliament would exclude any paragraph of the bill that could be used to waste public funds.

Iraq's Federal Court canceled the Food Security Bill which the caretaker government proposed to the parliament in answer to a lawsuit made by MP Basem Khashan.

The court also answered the President's query about the phrase "daily matters" contained in Article 64/Second of the Constitution. The President asked the Federal Court if the caretaker government can present draft laws to the parliament and the court answered with No!

Six months after the election, Iraq has only been able to elect the Parliament Presidency. The country is currently at a deadlock as political parties have failed to reach an agreement on electing the new president and forming the government. The current government is the caretaker government which doesn't have the authority to propose bills.

The food security bill consists of 10 articles, and according to the bill, the Iraqi government oversees a bank account to collect about 45 trillion dinars ( about $30.9 billion) from the surplus of the annual budget and local and foreign debts to use for ensuring food security in Iraq.

And also to reduce poverty and continue to implement projects in Iraq, as well as repaying foreign debt on Iraq and buying energy.



PUKmedia