Poor governance in Basra, if left unchecked, will lead to Iraq’s collapse. The first interactions with the state for citizens are with local government and the poor provision of services there infuriate people on a daily basis, exacerbated in summer 1/ https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2020/04/02/failure-of-governance-in-basra-puts-all-of-iraq-at-risk/

An example of how complicated solutions to water provision can be:
“The project of improving water and sanitation in Basra involves no less than 8 federal ministries and departments, along with 6 local agencies and the governor’s office” - who is responsible? 2/

Decentralisation without an improvement in accountability and reduction in bureaucratic complexity will lead to an increase in corruption and poor governance. In Basra, decentralisation has made things worse not better 3/

“Once the war against Islamic State ended in December 2017, citizens in Basra were keen to point out that their province’s oil had kept Iraq running, but they were yet to see any benefits from it” - only a matter of time before protests there escalate 4/

Solutions: 1. Complete new electoral law, 2. Hold provincial elections soon after, 3. Make governors elected by public.
“Once politicians are held accountable at the district level then they will be forced to work to improve conditions at the local level or lose their posts” 5/