Jordan Times
Monday, September 3, 2007
3 new ministers sworn in AMMAN - Three new ministers were sworn in before His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday.
By Khalid Neimat
The newcomers were appointed to posts left vacant after their predecessors resigned over the past two months.
Former secretary general of the Finance Ministry Hamad Kasasbeh became finance minister, succeeding his former boss Ziad Fariz, who was also deputy prime minister.
Fariz resigned August 21 after reportedly the Cabinet rejected his recommendation to raise fuel prices to meet rising oil prices in the international markets. The post was temporarily filled by Labour Minister Bassem Salem, who became acting finance minister for less than a week, in accordance with a Royal Decree issued last Monday.
Meanwhile, yesterday’s Royal Decree appointed former Health Ministry official Salah Mawajdeh and college professor Mohammad Shatnawi as health and water and irrigation ministers, respectively.
The posts were left vacant after Thafer Alem and Saad Kharabsheh quit in July in the wake of an outbreak of a parasitic disease in northeastern Jordan.
The three new ministers, described by observers as “technocrats”, are first-timers.
Meanwhile, analysts said that most likely the ministers’ performance will hardly be in the spotlight in the coming two months at a time when the country is preparing for the November 20 parliamentary polls.
This is the second change in the 27-member Cabinet of Marouf Bakhit, who in November last year introduced a major reshuffle, bringing in three former ministers and six newcomers.
Profiles of new ministers
Hamad Kasasbeh Minister of Finance
Born in Karak in 1956, Kasasbeh obtained a PhD in economics from Columbia University in 1990. He worked as an economic researcher and adviser at the Central Bank until he was appointed as general manager of the Cities and Villages Development Bank in 1996. Kasasbeh, the author of 14 different publications in the field of finance, also taught at the University of Jordan. In 1999, he was appointed secretary general of the Accounting Bureau. Until his appointment as minister yesterday, Kasasbeh served as the secretary general of the Ministry of Finance, a post he assumed in 2003.
Mohammad Shatnawi Minister of Water and Irrigation
Born in Irbid in 1945, Shatnawi was teaching in the University of Jordan (UJ) until his appointment as minister yesterday. He headed the department of soils and irrigation at UJ and taught water resources and irrigation. Shatnawi has 25 years of experience in water resource management, water and agriculture policy, irrigation systems design, hydrology of arid areas and environmental impact of water and irrigation projects. A civil engineering PhD holder from the University of California, he majored in hydraulics, with irrigation and engineering analysis as minors. Shatnawi, who worked for FAO as an expert in water and irrigation in Egypt (1989-1991), is involved with several applied research topics related to water and environment. He has more than 50 publications in irrigation modelling and management, water resources planning and policy.
Salah Mawajdeh Minister of Health
Born in Amman in 1957, Mawajdeh received his PhD in health policy and management from Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 1983, Mawajdeh has assumed several positions in the health sector. He has published more than 20 scientific books and papers and participated in several scientific seminars around the world. In 1994, he received the WHO Gender and Tropical Diseases Award for his scientific paper entitled “The Assessment of the Quality of Parental Care in Irbid, North Jordan: Women’s Perspective. Mawajdeh, who was director general of the Jordan Food and Drug Administration, also served as regional coordinator of the reproductive health working group in the population council in Cairo.