The current acting Electricity Minister in Iraq has said that there was no ‘magic wand’ to end the electricity shortage crisis the country is going through.
A web of electricity cables in the Iraqi Capital of Baghdad which shows how unorganized the countries electricity system. - Photo By - Marko Georgiev / New York Times
Iraqi’s have been outraged by the electricity shortage which has left many areas in the country without electricity for much of the day amid temperatures reaching close to 50 degrees (120 Fahrenheit).
Hussain al-Shahristani, the current electricity minister spoke of the shortages and said that there was no ‘magic wand’ to stop the outages on Friday as Iraqi protesters massed in the capital Baghdad over the government’s inability to provide essential services in the war ridden country.
Shahristani also asked the Iraqi people to limit the usage of air conditioning appliances.
A vast amount of Iraqi people get less than six hours of electricity a day, and this is despite the fact that billions of dollars have been spent in the country to resolve the issue after the 2003 invasion.
The pressure had risen so much in the country that Karim Waheed the former electricity minister, resigned from his post on Wednesday after two protesters were killed in Basra the weekend before.
Karim Waheed had blaimed the electricity outages on the ‘inpatient’ Iraqi people and lack of funds.
Karim Waheed said on a televised speech to the nation “Because Iraqis are not capable of being patient in their suffering, which would be alleviated by the projects I mentioned that will eliminate the shortages of electricity, and as this matter has been politicised on all sides, I am declaring in front of you with courage my resignation”.
“We brought you democracy. now stop asking for electricity!”