Jordan Times
Wednesday, October 20, 2004
Premier concludes meetings
with parliamentary blocs
AMMAN (JT) — Prime Minister Faisal Fayez on Tuesday concluded a string of
meetings with parliamentary blocs to discuss future government plans and the
upcoming Cabinet reshuffle, which will focus on administrative reforms.
The Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted the premier as telling members of the
Lower House Independent and Reformist blocs that the administrative reform plan
“would be neither at the expense of the citizens' social security and political
development, nor will it lead to the abolishment of the Council of Ministers,
jeopardise the powers vested in the prime minister, or result in the
cancellation of the Civil Service Bureau.”
He reiterated that the government would implement a multitrack
administrative-political reforms plan, under which new elections and political
parties laws will be drafted. The election legislation, he added, is expected to
ensure that the country's political spectra will be guaranteed the opportunity
to be represented in Parliament.
Through education, he told the politicians, the government would seek to develop
the culture of democracy in the local community.
The new programme the government will embark on in the aftermath of the
reshuffle “has been studied thoroughly and is in line with the Constitution,”
the premier said, explaining that four support commissions will be set up at the
Prime Ministry. The panels, Fayez said, will play a supportive role in the
drawing up of public policies while the powers of the prime minister and the
Cabinet will remain intact.
The goal behind the administrative reform programme, according to the premier,
is to improve the services offered to citizens, noting that “there are certain
parties that resist these future plans.”
The prime minister also talked about the issues of corruption and the
privatisation programme. He promised public access to the findings of the
investigations under way into two corruption cases in the phosphate and Jordan
magnesia companies.
He announced that there is a plan to use the privatisation revenues for
productive projects, citing a possibility to use these funds to sustain the Disi
Water Conveyance Project, which will nourish the thirsty capital with its
drinking water needs.