Jordan Times
Tuesday, February 1, 2005
Royal Committee members
appointed
By Mahmoud Abed
AMMAN — A Royal Decree was issued on Monday appointing members of the Royal
Committee tasked with examining and presenting proposals to implement the Royal
vision included in His Majesty King Abdullah's address to the nation last week.
In a televised speech on Wednesday, King Abdullah announced plans to
decentralise local government by redrawing provincial administrations that are
to be run by publicly elected local councils with the goal of expanding “the
base of public participation in that process.”
The Royal Committee, which includes three former prime ministers and six former
ministers, will study the various aspects of such an approach and set the
appropriate mechanisms for its implementation.
The appointed members are: Senate President Zeid Rifai, Senator Fayez Tarawneh,
MP Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh, Lower House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali, King's
Special Adviser Aqel Biltaji, former Deputy Prime Minister Marwan Hmoud, former
Interior Minister Rajai Dajani, former Deputy Prime Minister Awad Khleifat, MP
Mamdouh Abbadi, former Justice Minister Hisham Tal, former Interior Minister
Nayef Qadi, and Jordan River Foundation Director General Maha Khatib.
According to informed sources, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for
Prime Ministry Affairs and Government Performance Marwan Muasher is tipped to be
the coordinator between the government and the committee.
The King said a review of the current administrative divisions would yield
“development areas, or regions” each consisting of various governorates. Each
region would have a local council directly elected by its people to work
hand-in-hand with the elected municipal councils in the governorates to set
priorities and draw up plans and programmes related to their respective regions.
In her weekly press conference, Minister of Culture and Government Spokesperson
Asma Khader said the Royal Committee would work on making the necessary
legislative changes to the municipalities, elections and administrative division
laws.
The changes, she said, are a continuation of plans that started with giving
governors development-centred roles and came in the context of the democratic
process.
“Jordan seeks a kind of administration that is based on modern standards and
gives people more room for participation in the decision-making process,” Khader
added.
Activating the role of citizens, she said, has always been a public demand as
well as an official goal.