Jordan Times
Friday, December 10, 2004
Gov't officials briefed on
public reform programmes
AMMAN (Petra) — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Prime Ministry
Affairs and Government Performance Marwan Muasher and Minister of State for
Public Reforms Ahmad Masadeh on Thursday met with ministry secretaries general,
department directors and senior state employees to discuss the governmental
policies document on public reforms for the years 2004-2009.
Muasher stressed the importance of reaching a consensus on national priorities
through programmes that define these priorities and standards, according to
which public performance and services are rated.
He said the public reforms programme involves two levels of implementation. The
first is strategic led by the Ministry of Government Performance, while the
second is executive undertaken by the Ministry of Public Reforms. He added that
the strategic level is performed through an agenda listing the national
priorities for the coming 10 years, stressing that the priorities are constant
and do not change with the change of ministries.
The executive level, Muasher continued, will set the criteria for public
services offered to citizens, which will be detailed in a pamphlet to inform
employees and citizens seeking a specific service of the time needed to make the
service in question available. In this regard, the minister said a communication
unit would be formed with the goal of conducting surveys on the quality of these
services.
Muasher highlighted the significance of the training that will be part of the
reform process, adding that training as well as rehabilitation would target
state employees.
For his part, Masadeh stressed that citizens' opinions will be heard and taken
into consideration under the public reforms programme. He added that the
government is planning to establish a unit for public reform at the Prime
Ministry to supervise the improvement in public services and provide public
institutions with technical assistance and capacity building requirements.
He said the national priorities would set four topics before the government to
be addressed over the coming 10 years. These topics involve the socio-economic
and political development process as well as justice and security in agreement
with the concerned parties: The Parliament, civil society institutions, the
media and other entities.
Masadeh said achieving satisfactory results with regard to public services
necessitates rehabilitating and improving the capabilities of civil servants. He
added that a study to review the civil service system would also take place soon
to ensure that transparency, justice and competence are taken into consideration
for recruitment, salary raises and promotions.