Crippled Modernization… Ministry of Justice Switch System Outage Turns Notary Offices into Crowded Halls of Frustration in the Peak of Summer Heat!

A sudden technical outage affecting the electronic payment Switch system brought transactions to a standstill, turning government offices into scenes of overcrowding and chaos amid scorching temperatures.

While citizens are being urged to abandon cash and rely on electronic payment cards, they found themselves today held hostage by a technically outdated and unreliable system that was unable to process government fees. The outage resulted in hundreds of transactions piling up and disrupted the affairs of citizens who were forced to stand for hours in endless queues, waiting for the system to come back online.

The incident raises serious questions about the effectiveness of imposing an electronic payment system without ensuring that it is supported by reliable and resilient infrastructure capable of preventing such failures. It also raises concerns about the lack of accountability from the ministry and service providers, who continue to collect fees and commissions while ordinary citizens bear the cost of these technical failures through their time, frustration, and dignity.

The episode serves as a stark reminder that digital transformation in Iraq remains largely theoretical when it is put to the test in real-world conditions.