8 April 2005
OXFORD BUSINESS GROUP
Ending a long period of speculation, the Jordanian government resigned this week, ending a short and at times troubled stint in office. Yet while changes at the ministerial level had been expected, there was still some surprise that Prime Minister Faisel el-Fayez stepped down on April 5, instead of trying to fix the current structure once again. However, the move is being widely read as evidence that King Abdullah is serious about change and will act decisively to implement it. It was a rather inauspicious ending to the el-Fayez government, which toiled throughout a year of heightened expectations without ever really living up to them.
When the cabinet was formed in late 2003, the king charged its members first and foremost with pursuing political, not economic, reforms. Yet although there were inklings of progress throughout 2004, the pace of change was deemed not fast enough for the reform-minded king. Summing up the departing government, King Abdullah said that aspirations exceeded achievements.
The disappointment in this government is even more marked given how promising it had seemed at the outset. It featured one of the highest-yet ratios of Jordanians of Palestinian descent and gave portfolios to the most women ever. Having more of the country's variety represented in the cabinet was a tenet of the king's reform programme - and the makeup of the cabinet looked poised to satisfy this.
The new prime minister, 69 year-old Adnan Badran, the US-educated former president of Philadelphia University, will now see if he can deliver these elusive achievements. Although the possibility of a new government had been circulated widely in the last few weeks, Badran being named to the top position certainly wasn't expected, as many didn't think the King would name an academic. His 25-member cabinet includes four women and 12 ministers from the former government. Badran has also taken the defence minister portfolio for himself, while the new foreign minister is Farouq Qasrawi, a former ambassador to Japan and advocate of the King's policy of close ties to the US. Bassem Awadallah is the new minister of finance, while the Interior Ministry goes to Awni Yirfas, a tough intelligence general who was head of the Passport Department.
Badran will inherit the task of righting the government ship and will have to tackle a number of looming challenges. In addition to bringing eventual political reform, Badran will face the immediate difficulty of selecting a cabinet. For all the diversity of the previous government, there were reports that inter-cabinet squabbling had begun to be an obstacle to progress.
The appointing of Marwan Mouasher, the former foreign minister, as deputy prime minister was supposed to encourage more inter-ministerial co-operation. Yet the surprise resignation of Bassem Awadallah as the minister of planning in February 2005 was an omen that the internal problems were yet unsolved. Awadallah, one of the King's closest allies, stepped down under unclear circumstances. Some speculated that he disagreed with the awarding of certain infrastructure contracts, but others cite his consistent inability to work within the el-Fayez cabinet. Since he has long been known to stand very close to the King on issues of reform, his leaving could not have pleased the palace.
In addition, there were a number of recent political issues that were not handled well by the government. First was Jordan's performance at the Arab Summit in Algiers. The Jordanians proposed a track that was perceived to endorse normalising relations with Israel - building on a 2002 Saudi Arabian initiative. Jordan was rebuked for the proposal, and the track was rejected outright by most Arab countries. Jordan's image was further clouded when reports surfaced of a misunderstanding between the Jordanian delegation, headed by Foreign Minister Hani Mulki, and the Saudis. The government came under even more fire for its reaction to a report that a Jordanian had been responsible for the February 28 bombing in the Iraqi city of Hilla, which had killed 118 people. The Jordanian paper al-Ghad published the story, and there were wide anti-Jordanian protests across Iraq. The Iraqis accused the Jordanians of being too lenient with those responsible for attacks and letting insurgents filter across the Iraqi border. The Jordanian government eventually denied the charges, but the King was critical of the speed of the response. The resulting row led to the withdrawal of the Jordanian charge d'affaires in Iraq, as the protests escalated. Iraq retaliated by recalling its ambassador as well. The diplomats have since returned, but the King expressed displeasure with the way the issue was handled.
The new government will have the chance to start afresh and try to erase some of the negative attention the previous government was attracting. The new cabinet has also been charged with dealing with the growing rift between the government and the professional associations. In the past year, certain associations have been criticised for being too political - especially on the issues of Iraq and Israel. The government wants to clamp down on the political rhetoric of the associations, but they claim the government is violating their rights to free speech. The ongoing dispute has been widely covered by the media since the blocking of a professional association meeting earlier this year, which was reported to be encouraging the insurgency in Iraq. After being charged over a year ago with reforming the rules governing political activity in the kingdom, a new political parties law was only approved a few weeks ago, underlining the fact that despite a lot of government attention, very little political legislation has been passed since el-Fayez took power.
The new government will also have to keep pace with the accelerating pace of economic reform. This is an area that has seen good progress in the past, and there will be no slacking of expectations here, regardless of how the new administration tackles the political issues. Jordan has endeared itself to the West by being the one of the most transparent countries in the Middle East. Its efforts at economic reform earned it a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US (the only one in the region besides Morocco and Israel) and the establishment of the qualified industrial zones (QIZs) (the only ones in the world until Egypt established their own in 2005).
Jordan continues to be a haven of security and stability in a region traditionally stricken with strife.
Also important is the improvement of social issues in the rural areas, which will be the primary source of an impending population explosion. These areas are the most vulnerable when it comes to being left behind by general economic reform programmes. The King stressed the eradication of poverty and unemployment, improving living standards, and raising incomes in his new government designation letter. These social areas, where the King and Queen Rania have been quite active, represent a formidable challenge - and tackling these issues will be key to the future prosperity and stability of Jordan.
The King's expectations are extremely high, and meeting these is going to be a challenge for any government. The disbanding of the previous administration around a year after its inception shows that the King is not going to waste any time with ineffectual cabinets, either. The clock is ticking for the Badran government - and they should know there is not much room for error.
posted by Ashraf Zeitoon @ 12:54 AM
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