Rakan Saeed Al-Jibouri still officially identifies himself as the governor of Kirkuk, despite carrying out his duties as a member of the provincial council since July 11, 2024. He also completed retirement age when he reached sixty years of age, while some see from a legal perspective that he is no longer a governor and assert that “he should be tried.”
On Thursday, July 18, Dylan Ghafour, the representative of Kirkuk in the Iraqi Parliament, member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK, stressed in a letter addressed to the head of the Supreme Commission for Interprovincial Coordination that Kirkuk Provincial Council member Rakan Saeed “is still carrying out his work as the acting governor of Kirkuk and signing official letters yet putting dates prior to the oath.”
"This constitutes a legal violation, since he took the legal oath as a member of the Provincial Council," Dylan says and demands the formation of an investigative committee against him, the seizure of records issued in the Kirkuk Provincial Office, and "bringing negligent parties to the Iraqi judiciary."
Rakan Saeed was installed as the acting governor of Kirkuk after the events of October 16, 2017 by the former Prime Minister. He was sworn in as a member of the provincial council on July 10 and began his duties the next day.
There are differing opinions about the legality of Rakan Saeed remaining in the position of governor. Some believe that the law does not permit him to hold two positions at the same time (legislative and executive authority), and others indicate that he has completed the legal age for retirement by reaching 60 years, based on the Retirement Law. Unified No. (9) of 2014.
Ali Hammadi, Assistant Governor of Kirkuk, told KirkukNow, “Rakan Saeed Al-Jibouri was officially retired on July 1, after turning 60 years old.
Rakan Al-Jibouri has not signed any letter as governor for two weeks
Although Ghafoor stressed in her complaint that Al-Jibouri issues new official letters with old dates, Ali Hammadi said, “The signing of letters has been suspended. Rakan Al-Jibouri has not signed any letter as governor for two weeks, so the signing of letters has been stopped at the governor office.”
This comes while Al-Jibouri continues to publish his activities on his personal page as governor and participates in meetings and seminars.
On July 9 - the day before Al-Jibouri was sworn in - four representatives in the Iraqi parliament, three of whom were from the PUK bloc, demanded in a letter addressed to the Iraqi Prime Minister that Rakan Saeed be referred to retirement, because he had completed the legal age for retirement, based on the decision of the State Council in 2011.
The oil-rich city of Kirkuk is home to about 1.77 million Kurds, Turkmen, and Arabs. Located 238 kilometers north of Baghdad, Kirkuk has long been at the center of disputes between the federal government in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government KRG in Erbil.
In addition to the issue of retirement, some believe that it is “not permissible” for a member of the provincial council to hold another position at the same time.
A legal source in charge of the Independent High Electoral Commission in Iraq, who preferred to remain anonymous, told (Kirkuk Now), “Rakan Saeed defining himself as a governor is against the law,” citing the Iraqi Governorates Law of 2008.
Article 18 of the law stipulates that “it is not permissible to combine council membership with any official work or position.”
The source explained, "Under the Unified Retirement Law, any government employee who reaches 60 years of age must be referred for retirement."
There are efforts to keep Rakan Saeed in the position of governor until the council elects another person for the position
But the assistant governor said, “There are efforts to keep Rakan Saeed in the position of governor until the council elects another person for the position.”
“For this reason, he asked the Iraqi Prime Minister to extend the retirement age, but the Prime Minister has not yet responded to the request.”
According to the Unified Retirement Law, there are some categories that are excluded from the paragraph regarding the retirement age, but these categories do not include the governor or the deputy governor.
According to Article 30 of the Iraqi Governorates Law, the governor, his two deputies, and the heads of administrative units continue to manage daily affairs after the end of the term of the electoral cycle for the councils and until their successors are elected by the new councils.
But the four representatives who demanded that Al-Jibouri to be referred to retirement say that Article 30 does not cover him, because he was deputy governor and was appointed acting governor.
Following last December’s provincial council elections, the winging parties have failed to come to an agreement to minate the head of the provincial council, the governor and their deputies.
The Kirkuk provincial council held its first meeting in the presence of all members and the council took office on July 11, and members are to perform their duties and get their privileges including monthly salaries. However, none of the senior positions of governor and head of provincial council have been elected.
The Kirkuk Provincial Council consists of 16 seats, with seven seats for the Kurds (five seats for the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan PUK and two seats for the KDP), six seats for the Arab component (the Arab Alliance in Kirkuk has 3 seats, the Leadership has two seats, and the Arabism Alliance has one seat), while the Turkmen won two seats, in addition to the quota seat for the Christians. At least nine members are required to attend the first session to complete quorum.
Out of 15 Iraqi governorates, the local government was formed in 13 governorates, while the Kirkuk and Diyala councils failed to form the local government due to disagreements between the blocs and a lack of agreement on the distribution of senior positions. The main dispute in Kirkuk concerns the position of governor, which was in the hands of the Kurds from 2005 until October 2017.
Dr. Burhan Darwish, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at Kirkuk University, told KirkukNow, “By taking the legal oath as a member of the Provincial Council, Rakan al-Jubouri lost all his legal rights to continue in the position of governor, because according to the law he is not permitted to exercise his duties in the legislative and executive authority at the same time.”
"The Prime Minister cannot keep him in his position without being elected, because the aforementioned took the legal oath and became a member of the Provincial Council," Darwish added.
This comes at a time when the General Secretariat of the Iraqi Council of Ministers appointed months ago, based on the provisions of Article 30 of the Iraqi Governorates Law, the former Governor of Diyala, Muthanna Al-Tamimi, as a caretaker governor, until the blocs of the Provincial Council reach an agreement regarding the appointment of the new governor, and this despite the fact that Muthanna Al-Tamimi also took the legal oath as a member of the Provincial Council.
