AMMAN — In May 2021,
Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh presented to Parliament the
executive program his government hoped to deliver separate from the planned
political and economic reforms.
Jordan News spoke to a number of
political parties and pundits, who contend that the government’s performance
fell short of its promises.
اضافة اعلان
The government’s program comprised seven main axes
that addressed the economy and the public sector, including the continuation of
structural reforms, facilitating investment, and dealing with the country’s
water and energy challenges, among others.
Citing the prime minister,
Minister of State for Media Affairs Faisal Al-Shboul told
Jordan News that the government
hoped to be mission-oriented.
Among the goals the government achieved, Shboul, who
is also the government spokesperson, highlighted Jordan’s efforts to combat the
COVID-19 pandemic.
He said that public health spending reached JD3
billion by the end of last year. The government also expanded the country’s
healthcare capacity by 350 percent.
Economically, the government launched a national
employment program to provide 60,000 job opportunities for youth and
established the
Ministry of Investment. The newly founded ministry’s mandate is
to promote existing and attracting more investments in Jordan.
Shboul also noted the government fixed the prices of
oil derivatives for three consecutive months, which cost the Treasury JD162
million. This achievement is undercut by
Minister of Interior Mazen Al-Faraya’s
recent announcement that the government will hike the fuel prices to recoup
those costs.
The government’s authority is weak. As a result, people suffer from high prices and high energy prices, and there is no change or improvement in salaries. There is also increased pressure on civil liberties and the political life,
Politically, the government successfully completed
the implementation of the Political Modernization Vision that proposed
amendments to the Constitution and the election and political parties’ laws,
the spokesperson said.
However, an opinion poll conducted by the
Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan showed that 64 percent of
Jordanians did not trust the Khasawneh government, a year and a half after its
formation, local media outlets reported in April.
The behavior of the Khasawneh government has been
similar to that of its predecessors, according to former minister of state for
economic affairs Yusuf Mansur, who told
Jordan News that he had not seen
decisions taken by the government that have had a “positive impact” on the
economy.
Mansur said that the country’s lack of economic
growth is concerning, and that the government has “failed to grow the economy”.
To be fair, people’s ambitions are bigger than the current government’s because, as the pandemic receded, people expected that this government would rescue the economy, reintroduce social life, and the tackle unemployment
“Recent shifts in prices, for instance, in petroleum
products, will negatively impact the economy. I did not see tremendous
improvement in attracting foreign investment or any new projects,” Mansur
contended.
Jordan News spoke to four political parties,
all of whom largely agreed that the Khasawneh government had not done enough to
positively impact the socioeconomic and political spheres as it promised in its
program. They all said that Khasawneh and his government had isolated
themselves from the people and political parties, which is why he lost their
trust.
Nazir Al-Arabiyat, secretary-general of the Justice
and Reform Party, told
Jordan News that the consequences of regional and
international developments impacted the government’s ability to achieve its
goals, which was reflected in its popularity.
“To be fair, people’s ambitions are bigger than the
current government’s because, as the pandemic receded, people expected that
this government would rescue the economy, reintroduce social life, and the
tackle unemployment.”
Others were
harsher in their criticism. Secretary-general of the Islamic Action Front,
Murad Al-Adaileh, told
Jordan News that the government is far removed
from the people. According to the party official, “this government is one of
the weakest to take power,” adding that it had failed to impact public life or
the political and economic spheres.
“The government’s authority is weak. As a result,
people suffer from high prices and high energy prices, and there is no change
or improvement in salaries. There is also increased pressure on civil liberties
and the political life,” Adaileh said.
The government eroded civil liberties and failed to
stand up to outside influences, including the
International Monetary Fund,
according to the National Movement Party.
Its secretary-general, Deyfallah Farraj, said that
the amendments to the political party laws introduce unfair requirements, such
as requiring 20 percent of the party to be made up of youth, when that
requirement “is not applied to the government”.
The
Jordanian Communist Party contended that the
government had isolated itself from political parties by not involving them in
the political reform processes nor hearing out their ideas to improve the
economy.
Hilmi Al-Asmar, a political writer, said the
government had not done enough to gain people’s trust, and that their goals
were similar to previous governments.
He argued that people’s resentment stemmed primarily
from the erosion of civil liberties, particularly regarding syndicates.
Not all the experts interviewed by
Jordan News were equally critical, however. For his part, former minister of state for
media affairs Mohammad Al-Momani told
Jordan News that Khasawneh and his
Cabinet have been committed to implementing public-sector reforms including the
political and economic modernization visions.
“We are all now in charge of living up to challenge; the
government, NGOs, civic society, political parties, and Parliament. ... We need
to energize and inject superior Jordanian values and traditions to build and
fly with Jordan to the horizons that we would like to see it in,” Momani added.
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