AMMAN —
Jordan’s government insisted that
modernizing the public sector would boost its efficiency. But pundits
questioned the justification for the move and voiced concern over a planned
abolition of the Ministry of Labor, saying that may jumble the labor market.
اضافة اعلان
On Sunday,
His Majesty King Abdullah reasserted that
the ultimate objective of the modernization is to improve services provided to
citizens and to bolster the efficiency of public administration.
The king urged coordination among state institutions
to ensure the implementation of the modernization roadmap, which includes in
its first phase an action plan for the years 2022 to 2025.
Former minister
Jawad Anani, an expert on national
economy, questioned the justifications for the merger, or restructuring. He
declined further comment, saying he could not assess the matter for the lack of
clarity of the objectives and justifications, and for the abolition of the
Ministry.
Radi Al-Atoum, a
former director-general of the Institute of Public Administration, said some of
the proposals were good, such as the merger of the
Ministry of Education with
the Ministry of Higher Education, since the nature of the work of the two
ministries was interdependent and complementary.
On the other hand, he said that the abolition of the
Labor Ministry was “totally inappropriate”. He justified his position, saying
the ministry has a key role in supervising and organizing labor issues and the
labor market, “With the increase in the problems of unemployment and poverty,
it is necessary to keep it intact,” he asserted.
He said that the aim of the merger is to improve the
level of current services and respond to today’s requirements. “This will not
be achieved through this program because the recommendations are incompatible
with the merger’s goal,” he noted.
A committee entrusted with carrying out the
modernization scheme is headed by Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh.
He said the plan’s roadmap identified seven
components as a top priority for improvement and modernization, including
government services, procedures and digitization, organizational structure and
governance, policymaking and decision-making, among others.
Former minister Jawad Anani, an expert on national economy, questioned the justifications for the merger, or restructuring.
Khasawneh said that merging government ministries
and departments, excluding security agencies and the armed forces, will be
carried out 2022 to 2024, “without prejudice to workers’ rights, or dispensing
with their services”.
Ex–Cabinet minister Majd Al-Shweikeh said that the
integration is important to modernize the public sector and seek political and
economic reform.
She said that requires improving the infrastructure
to provide better services, stressing that the merger and restructuring are a
small part of the plan’s road map.
Shweikeh confirmed that she supported the merger and
the restructuring plan as a whole because “what is on the ground is not the
desired model”.
“This step is based on previous studies, and the
government has followed up and developed previous plans, and this achievement
needs time, but it is not impossible, especially if we rely on good and
structured planning,” she pointed out.
But she pointed to possible resistance to the
government’s plan. “The fear lies in the reluctance or resistance to change, so
there must be a tight change management program, especially since this will
only cost us time,” she said.
“This move is for the benefit of citizens through
the unified service centers for citizens,” Shweikeh added.
Maher Al-Madadha, a former minister of public sector
development, said that the integration of ministries and government
institutions is considered “one of the pillars of modernizing the public
administration”.
That, he added, is known as a component of restructuring the
government and the public sector to improve the administrative apparatus and
its institutions to remove all forms of bureaucracy which slows economic
growth.
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