BAGHDAD: Influential Iraqi Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, leading protests to demand a technocrat government to fight graft, urged authorities on Monday to give every Iraqi a direct share from the nation's oil revenues.
Iraq, with crude oil reserves among the largest in the world, ranks 161 out of 168 in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index in 2015.
"Allocate a share for each Iraqi citizen from the oil revenues,'' he said in a speech detailing proposals to end graft, improve public services and revive the economy. He gave no detail on how this might be done.
Sadr's followers have been staging protests for about a month demanding a new government be formed with technocrats not affiliated with political parties in order to fight rampant corruption.
The cleric didn't specify if his demand on distribution of oil revenue to the population was a condition to end the protests.
Reuters
