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Reforms putting public sector on right track — Momani
By Dana Al Emam - Aug 04,2015 - Last updated at Aug 04,2015
AMMAN — The government has been able to assert its authority over some unruly elements who were trying to exploit the Arab Spring through a number of administrative reform measures, according to Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications Mohammad Momani.
Speaking during a visit he paid to The Jordan Times on Monday, Momani said major administrative reforms include transparency in appointing senior public officials, a process that used to be mainly based on favouritism and personal connections.
Another move was linking employment at municipalities, universities and university hospitals with the Civil Service Bureau so that appointments are not decided by these bodies, which means a higher number of merit-based appointments.
Moreover, the government spokesperson said municipalities did not receive returns from the tax on fuel derivatives in the past, but do so now because of the reform measures.
The decline in the services of municipalities had prompted His Majesty King Abdullah to address that weakness in a Speech from the Throne, Momani said.
The government’s response was “pumping” money into municipalities and amending the Municipalities Law to empower municipal councils.
Under the new law, members of municipal councils are elected, not appointed, to a council that cannot be dissolved.
In previous remarks, Minister of Municipal Affairs Walid Masri said the government’s support to municipalities stands at JD250 million, which he described as the “highest” it has ever reached.
Meanwhile, Momani highlighted high current expenditures as a major problem facing the economy at large, noting that the number of public sector employees has exceeded the healthy rate.
He added that up to 90 per cent of universities’ revenues are spent on current expenditures.
In November 2014, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said the public sector represents 42 per cent of the economy, while internationally it does not exceed 15 per cent.
“Nonetheless, rates of pay raises in Jordan are among the highest in the world,” Momani said, highlighting the availability of well-paying opportunities for those seeking jobs, not professions.
If the unemployment rate, which is estimated at around 12.1 per cent, was accurate, Jordan would not have had 2 million guest workers, the minister noted.
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