Mubadara group seeks to mature into ‘political current’ — Hamarneh

AMMAN — The Lower House-based "Mubadara" initiative on Sunday said it is working on forming a political current to run in the next parliamentary elections as a cohesive body with well-defined programmes.

Marking almost two years of "institutionalised" partnership with the government, the group's leader, Deputy Mustafa Hamarneh, said it has pushed for achieving a set of objectives of an executive and social nature.

Defining Mubadara as a "home-grown democratic movement", Hamarneh said the 15-member initiative is being formed into a new political group within the Lower House with efforts under way to be then transformed into a "full-fledged political current to run in the next parliamentary elections".

"Our achievements will be the resume we submit to voters," the Madaba deputy said.      

Launched in December 2013, the group formed a partnership with the government after agreeing on certain short- and long-term policies to address various challenges facing the country.

In its first report, a copy of which was sent to The Jordan Times, Mubadara said it presented an "unprecedented political approach" based on partnership with the government with the aim of achieving well-defined programmes.

"Mubadara is a manifestation of the positive engagement with the government and the institutionalised practice of politics to achieve certain objectives," the report said.    

Listing its achievements, Mubadara said in the report that its "positive engagement" with the government has resulted in reprioritising public spending to better serve education, public transport and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).  

Mubadara said it has succeeded in convincing the government to increase allocations for public universities from JD57 million to JD72 million; for the Transport Ministry from JD85 million to JD98 million; and for SMEs to JD70 million, up from JD24 million.  

As part of its belief in civil rights, Mubadara said it has adopted the cause of citizenship rights for the children of Jordanian women married to foreigners, saying it will continue coordinating with the government to resolve the issue. 

Mubadara also said that enhancing the public transport, energy and tourism sectors are among its major strategic objectives, noting that the government has not yet responded adequately to a set of demands it raised addressing tax evasion and controlling expenditure at public agencies.