AMMAN — The new committee to modernize the public
sector, formed by Prime Minister
Bisher Khasawneh last week, has been met with
mixed reactions by experts, with most recalling the outcome of similar
committees formed in the past and of an entire ministry dedicated to this goal,
which was abolished in 2018. The new committee, headed by the prime minister,
held its first meeting on Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
Former minister
of Public Sector Development Maher Madadha called this “the old new issue”. He
told Jordan News that the plan to reform the public sector has been
going on since the late 1990s, but now is the time to expand on the dialogue to
continue the entire reform process. However, he said, people might resist such
reform, especially if they do not see the outcome.
He also warned
of exaggerated expectations from the committee.
“The committee
is not the one that should make the reforms; it is a steering committee. It
should draw a roadmap to deal with targeted issues,” Madadha said.
“It has to lay
out needed policies and plans and assign the duty of the implementation process
to a different official body. The whole country should be responsible for
applying the committee’s recommendations,” he added.
Madadha, whose
experience as minister was challenging due to what he called “resistance to
change”, said that reform may have an impact on public officials, “so they
would be the first to resist it”.
“Most of the
reform plans failed because the people who would apply the recommendations did
not have the true will to execute them. So each government would leave the
issue for the next one because they did not want to lose the support of the
people,” Madadha added.
Economic
researcher and former minister Jawad Al-Anani told Jordan News that the newly
formed committee is essential as the country faces challenges like obstruction
of development, investment and decision-making processes.
“There is a
strong will to reform and modernize now,” Anani said, stressing that the
government is going in the right direction as long as it prioritizes reform.
He recommended
creating sub-committees of the new committee that would be more specialized and
focused and that would be responsible for improving the administrative process
and dealing with issues related to training and the recruitment process. Most
importantly, the goal must be to minimize bureaucracy that Jordanians and
foreign investors struggle with.
Both Anani and
Madadha agree on the need to include private sector stakeholders in the
committee.
There are,
however, experts, like Hassan Riyati, a lawmaker and a member of the Labor and
Development Parliamentary Committee, who question the ability of the new
committee to bring about real change and reforms.
“I am for any
move toward reform and support the reform committees. However, on the ground,
we do not see that the government is serious about it,” Riyati said.
By way of
illustration, he mentioned the importance of the Audit Bureau’s annual report,
which documents misuse of public funds but whose findings are usually ignored
and get “no real accountability”.
“Many of the
abuses remain unaddressed and are repeated annually, as if the matter did not
concern the government,” he said.
Riyati said that
fundamental reform can only be achieved through serious intentions and
commitments, a firm decision-making process, and holding wrongdoers
accountable, irrespective of who they are.
Radi Al-Atoum,
former director-general of the Institute of Public Administration, is concerned
about the members of the committee; their names have not been made public yet.
“This committee
is a committee of ministers who are already busy and will not have the time to
research and understand what needs to be done,” Atoum told Jordan News..
He suggested
that each committee should be specialized and include 10 experts led by a
minister, and would be responsible for legislating a reform plan as they will
need more than a year to produce an objective scientific method and
recommendations.
“The current committee
members do not have the time and are not aware of the details of how things
work,” Atoum concluded.
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