Speaking to itself?

In a letter addressed to the prime minister on March 29, 2014, King Abdullah emphasised the utmost urgency with which the government should devise “an economic blueprint to guide our national economy over the next 10 years”.

The government responded a few days ago with a set of committees that are supposed to prepare such a blueprint.

A quick review of the memberships of the committees, however, shows that there is already a serious deficit, as the vast majority of the committee members are government employees.

The blueprint “should broadly engage the private sector and civil society, along with the public sector”, the King enjoined. Moreover, “the success of devising this blueprint hinges on adopting a participatory and consultative approach towards all stakeholders, namely governmental institutions, Parliament, private sector, civil society organisations and local communities”.

In other words, membership from outside the government should weigh heavily in the design of this vital blueprint, as was the case in the making of other plans, such as the National Social and Economic plans of the past century, the National Agenda and even Kulluna Al Urdun (We are All Jordan).

Yet, a quick scan of the names of the members of the steering committee shows that very few belong to the private sector: only 4 out of 23 members (or 17 per cent).

In other committees, figures go as follows: 2 out of 19 members (10 per cent) in the Coordination Committee; 2 out of 13 (15 per cent) in the Human Development Committee; 3 out of 19 (16 per cent) in the Productivity Enhancement Committee; 3 out of 17 (18 per cent) in the Economic Development Committee; 2 out of 15 (13 per cent) in the Monetary and Financial Sector Committee, etc.

Furthermore, some members from the private sector are repeated in different committees, which points to the exclusionary nature of the committees.

Not being an advocate of conspiracy theories, I believe there may have been an intent to simply get the job done fast. However, such plans, as the letter clearly and correctly stated, require a broad participation, for the government not to appear to be talking to itself about reform.

One would say that the government knows best and is more capable of gauging the ailments of the economy. However, if it were so, then there would be no need for the committees.

Furthermore, the government did complain a few days ago that none of its institutions had qualified for the King Abdullah II Excellence Award this year, which means it needs serious help from us, all of us.

Therefore, one could hardly make the case that, left to its own, the government could come up with such a blueprint.

Moreover, one can easily state that Jordan is not short of plans. 

In my view, the National Agenda of 2006 remains the most complete and thorough development document ever produced in Jordan — and it was the outcome of the effort of over 500 members (twice the number of the current blueprint team), the majority of whom from civil society and the private sector.

What should have been highlighted even before the creation of committees was how the government intended to implement the blueprint and what are the mechanisms in place for implementation? 

After all, 10 years is a very long time in Jordan. 

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