Sadr calls for technocratic govt, swift reform in Iraq

BAGHDAD, February 13: Powerful Iraqi Shi’ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday the country needed a technocratic government, threatening to quit politics if Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi failed to carry out promised reforms.
The remarks by Sadr, whose Al-Ahrar bloc holds 34 seats in parliament and three cabinet posts, were the first high-level reaction to the premier’s call for politically appointed ministers to be replaced with technocrats.
Struggling to show results from reforms he announced six months ago, Abadi said this week he wanted to make the replacements in a cabinet reshuffle, a shake-up that would alter the delicate balance of government in place since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Abadi provided few details of the planned reshuffle but he is expected to move forward with changes this week after returning to Iraq from a European trip.
Sadr called for “forming a technocrat government away from partisanship that should include all.”
He added that withdrawing from politics would become “a duty” if the government did not make swift progress to implement reforms such as purging the judiciary and curbing corruption. “There is no room for slacking off,” he said in a televised address.-Agencies